Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge
by kmfrank
Summary: When Harry returns home to Privet Drive after the fiasco at the Department of Mysteries, he finds that Voldemort's possession released the Horcrux inside of him. In addition to the companionship of "Tom", Harry has his knowledge, and must learn to use it
1. An Oddly Wise Voice in His Head

Greetings all. Thank you for reading the first chapter of this story. It's been nearly eight years now since I've last written anything, but I decided to get back in the saddle and knock one out. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. If you like it, then you'll be pleased to know that there should be much more to come! And now, without very much further ado and very little combined pomp and circumstance, I present to you:

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter One: That Oddly Wise Voice in His Head_**  
**_

Harry, sitting in the car as the Dursleys approached their Privet Drive home coming from King's Cross Station, smirked again as he thought of Mad-Eye Moody's effect on his relatives. The car ride home had been entirely silent, with only Uncle Vernon's occasional furtive glances at Harry the only acknowledgement that he was in the car. This was a marked improvement over previous treatment, and Harry thought that Moody's idea may have been long overdue. For not the first time, Harry wondered at how his mood seemed to have improved from previously in the year. He'd been moody, that's for certain; argumentative, disagreeable, and generally unpleasant. It was though a veil had been lifted and he did not have some oppressive dark feeling in him. This was strange because, for the first time this year, he actually had several reasons to be moody and unpleasant.

His godfather, the only parental figure he had who cared remotely about how he was doing, was now dead, thrown through the Veil of Death in the Department of Mysteries earlier in June. Also, that same day, Harry was possessed by the spirit of Lord Voldemort – a terrifying and painful experience – and discovered that because of a prophecy, his parents had been slain when he was a year old and he had been hunted by Voldemort ever since; he was, literally, a marked man. Was it merely his hormones that had made him so grumpy this year? Although truthfully, the moodiness had been present before this year at times, too. Once he'd discovered the prophecy, though, all that had changed. He no longer had time to be an argumentative teenager, he had to save the Wizarding World.

"Boy…are you going to get out of the car?" His Uncle asked, beginning harshly and then, once he realized that those…freaks might be watching, lowered his voice. Harry realized, quite foolishly, that he'd been so absorbed in his thoughts that the Dursleys had already pulled into 4 Privet Drive, Dudley carted his trunk upstairs, and the others were in the house. Harry shook his head and retreated to his summer hideaway.

"Dinner will be at 6 o'clock. Be sure to tell those people that we fed you."

Aunt Petunia called as Harry climbed the stairs up to the smallest bedroom.

_Hmmm_, Harry thought to himself, _actually being told when dinner is like I'll be served some with the rest of the family…that'll be a change_.

_And that is exactly why Moody had words with Vernon, you fool. And you had tried to stop him!_ Another voice answered. Harry had no choice but to agree with this voice – he made a mental note to thank Moody when he sent his first letter to the Order.

After Harry pulled some clothes and schoolbooks out of his trunk – his wand had been kept up his sleeve for the entire car ride in case of Death Eater attack – he retreated down the stairs for dinner. He rechecked his wand, just in case, and chuckled to himself about his paranoia; Moody would be proud both that he no longer used his back pocket as a wand holster – he did, after all, want to keep both buttocks as they were – and for his preparedness for the unexpected.

_Is it really paranoia if you have, in fact, a history of attacks on your person during the summer? Perhaps it is more "necessary caution" for _expected_ attacks._ The same voice of reason from before added; once again, Harry agreed with it – this voice was pretty smart. He felt a small burst of pride that he'd come up with such smart ideas lately; after all, a voice in his head must be his own.

He sat at the far end of the table – still separated from his relatives by at least one place setting, but in front of a decent-sized portion of food; Harry wouldn't ever want an equal share of food with Dudley or Vernon – it was at least twice as much as he could ever stomach – but a single plateful was plenty for the young wizard. After a rather silent dinner, Uncle Vernon hadn't even complained about the latest incompetent secretary, Harry put away the dishes and went back to his room, intent on reviewing some of his schoolbooks to alleviate the boredom that was already creeping into his consciousness. To his surprise, he found an owl waiting for him on the windowsill. He grabbed its load – a magazine, and it flew off. Harry looked at the magazine and saw that it was a copy of_The Quibbler_. A note fell off of it and he found that it was from Luna.

_Dear Harry,_

_Here is a copy of Daddy's magazine. I arranged to have you added to the subscription list, as I figured that your summer with the Muggles might be a little boring and this would be a good way to keep yourself occupied. I never got the chance to really thank you for offering to help me find my things for me at the end of term. No one has ever done that for me before, and it's nice to have people who offered, almost like having friends. Have fun with the Runic Puzzles, they're my favorite._

_Love,_

_Luna_

Harry was rather touched with Luna's thoughtfulness, and scribbled her a quick note saying such, sending it off with Hedwig. As he did this, he was for some reason rather disgusted with his untidy scrawl – his quillmanship was terrible. He did not realize why this bothered him, for it never had before.

Opening up his new copy of _The Quibbler_, he glanced at the cover article, which featured a rough-looking older gentleman with an untamed mane of red hair interspersed with grey: _Rufus Scrimgeour – Were-lion behind the Rotfang Conspiracy?_ Privately, Harry thought that Scrimgeour, the Head of the Aurors, did indeed resemble what a were-lion might look like, with his hair, his beard, and his proud stance. Also in this edition were, with the Ministry's acknowledgement of Voldemort's return, several articles having to do with the defense of one's home from Swarming Blurptibblers, which _The Quibbler_ believes have joined You-Know-Who's side against the Wizarding World. These pests were easily distracted by layering an object in the yard with honey to lure them away from attacks. Harry, smirking, turned the page to reveal one of the biggest draws of the _The Quibbler_, the infamous Runic Puzzle. Not having taken Ancient Runes, though, Harry was about to turn the page when he glanced at the clues.

_Symbol for strength and speed as well as potential…obviously Uruz, sign of the ox._ Harry paused and blinked a few times. _By Merlin, how did I know that?_

_Why wouldn't you know it? Its rather simple, after all; the harder runes are lower in the puzzle._ That strange voice in Harry's head answered. Harry warily looked to the very last clue – indeed, it seemed that the lower clues had to do with lesser known aspects of the runes.

_Male sexuality and fertility? Well, sexual love is Kuraz, but specifically male is Thurisaz._ Harry filled them into the puzzle, still questioning how in the world he knew these things. Wasn't this the topic of Hermione's Ancient Runes O.W.L. that she'd sworn she'd mistranslated?

_I bet this is just early material so old that it slipped Hermione's mind_, Harry reasoned to himself. As if on cue, the smart voice from before stated, _No, Harry; this rune puzzle exceeded O.W.L. level slightly. It wasn't quite as advanced as some of the N.E.W.T. material, though; that has a lot of introductory warding on it._ Harry resolved to ask Hermione to verify the voice's information, even though somehow he knew it to be fact; indeed, it was as though he'd always known Ancient Rune N.E.W.T. content. Quickly finishing the rune puzzle that he somehow knew should have taken longer, he got out a piece of parchment and quill and jotted a quick note to Hermione, this time making an effort to improve his abysmal quillmanship. It did little good, and his untidy scrawl was only slightly more legible.

_Hermione,_

_Hope you got back from the train ride alright and are enjoying the time spent with your parents. I owl-ordered some Ancient Runes books earlier in the week and they were waiting for me at Privet Drive when I got here thanks to Hedwig's efficiency. Luna sent me a copy of the Quibbler, which is apparently renowned for their runic puzzles, and I was just wondering if you could correct my work for me to see how I did while consulting the books. Also, I was curious as to the content of the Ancient Runes O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams, and I figured that you'd know all about them. Ugh, I can't believe that I'm already so bored as to do homework during my break. Thanks for everything._

_Love,_

_Harry_

Harry examined his letter, still disappointed at how unprofessional his scrawl looked. _Wait a minute…unprofessional? Who am I, Percy?_ He shook his head, folded up the note and tied it to Hedwig's talon, petting her affectionately as she took off for Hermione's house. Alone, he wondered exactly how he knew the answers to the rune puzzle, but could not fathom a single reason. Troubled, he lay in bed and dozed off surprisingly quickly to a dream-filled sleep.

In his dream, Harry was back in the Department of Mysteries fighting the Death Eaters. Surrounded by prophecies, he observed his friends stunning the Death Eaters while running away to escape. _The problem with stunning is that they just keep reviving each other. The Death Eaters were more effective because they used curses that caused enough damage to prevent you and your friends from getting back up._ The logical voice permeated his dream. It made sense, but Harry argued, _Well, of course, but I'll not use Dark curses just because they do. I'd feel terrible if I killed one, even though I hate some of them._ Thoughts of Bella's vicious laughter and Lucius Malfoy's cruel sneer arose in his mind. _Then modify the stunner so that only you can awaken them – a compromise that could save lives without you having to become a killer yourself._ Harry had to admit, this sounded like a good option. _Is it…possible to do that? I've never really heard of the method of spell creation or anything at school. Is it hard?_ Harry timidly conversed with the voice. It was odd talking with the voices in one's head, but somehow seemed appropriate. _Well, it can be fairly complicated and difficult to derive the necessary Arithmancy equations for real spell creation, but this would only be a simple modification of an existing spell. It's about N.E.W.T. level Arithmancy, nothing too difficult – just tie it into your magic signature and you're all set._ Despite never having taken Arithmancy and having no reason to be able to comprehend much of what he was just told by the voice in his head, Harry found himself nodding in agreement and cursing his stupidity – how much more smoothly would the battle at the Ministry have gone if he'd only thought of this earlier.

The voice ran a smooth commentary over the entire series of events, paying particular attention to the weaknesses of the various Death Eaters; when Dolohov faced off against Hermione, the voice said, _Ah yes, Antonin did always have a broad knowledge of curses, but they are not well practiced; if he'd known what he was doing, that nonverbal spell would have killed her_. As he commented on the angry beam of thin purple light that hit Hermione's chest. Harry recognized it as the Rupturing Curse; he knew that with a little more power behind the spell, Hermione would have been in a whole lot more trouble than a few days in the hospital wing.

Watching Neville and himself run to the chamber of the veil, he grew quite anxious as the Order members showed up to save him. _Really, it was quite remarkable that you six did so well. I would have expected more casualties; the Death Eaters have either gotten lazy or out of practice. Don't expect such leniency again._ Harry was forced to agree. It seemed that several, such as Bellatrix herself, were not yet recovered from their stay in Azkaban, and were quite weak. Not that he, himself, performed all so spectacularly, he thought ruefully. He was, of course, then forced to watch Sirius and Bellatrix in his final battle. Sirius was a rather skilled duelist, but he was out of practice, in addition to having never fully recovered from the muscle and mind atrophy that occurred in Azkaban. As Bella's stunner pushed Sirius through the veil, the voice spoke once more. _Enough people have told you that Sirius' death is not your fault, I don't think that needs repeating. Of course, had you been a fully trained Auror and had years of experience fighting Dark Wizards, then perhaps expectations of you would be higher, but a fifteen year old cannot really be expected to block the legilimency attacks of the Dark Lord, nor duel his followers to a standstill. The important thing about losses, Harry, is that you must learn from them. Instead of gawking at Sirius' body flying past, as you, not to mention the entire rest of the Order, did, you could have quickly summoned his unconscious form to yourself. Had you killed Bella before this encounter, or disabled her in some other way, perhaps he wouldn't have died. Or, on the contrary, perhaps another Death Eater would have tortured him into insanity with the Cruciatus Curse while you and the others were bound and forced to watch. Remember, the "if only" game works both ways._ Harry, with tears in his eyes, grumbled out an acceptance of this. He knew that he'd do better next time – he would do as the voice told him and learn to fight the Death Eaters, learn their weaknesses; next time, there'd be no Order casualties. _You also must remember that the Order members knew full well what the risks were, just as the Death Eaters did. They were willing to make the sacrifice and pledged their lives when they joined; it is admirable to want to protect them, but you must not get hung up on their deaths. Mourn them and live on as they would have wanted – particularly Sirius._

His dream progressed further to the atrium, where he was hiding out against Voldemort before Dumbledore arrived. When the statues were animated, Harry noted the fine Transfiguration work of his mentor and somehow knew the spell he'd used – wait a minute, wasn't animation N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration work? Even knowing this, he knew that it wasn't all that difficult to pull off; heck, Dumbledore had done it nonverbally, after all. Of course, if Voldemort had quit firing Killing Curses and actually tactically analyzed the duel – it seemed that Tom had let his temper control him again (_Another weakness of the Dark Lord, Harry_, the voice insisted) and was being bested by his old teacher because of it. As Dumbledore shot off the powerful Bludgeoning Hex at Voldemort and the silver shield popped into existence, the voice prompted, _Ah, the Imprimis Shield – you'll want to practice that one as well, of course. After we somehow deal with that underage restriction, of course. Oh, and the Flame Whip Curse…a useful piece of magic_. Harry wasn't sure when he'd learned that curse, but it seemed as though he knew both the powerful shield and the curse. Had he researched them in preparation for the third task? Was this from the D.A.? Harry didn't remember the specific circumstance, but somehow he had learned these before.

Finally, the duel ended as Voldemort disappeared in a cascade of water from Dumbledore and Harry watched, transfixed as he was possessed by the Dark Lord. As he recalled forcing the evil spirit from his body, he suddenly knew when he'd gotten this wealth of foreign information. With the duel finished, the surroundings shifted from the Ministry Atrium to Harry being alone in darkness. The voice was separate because Harry had pushed him out of his mind, but Harry now remembered the voice – it was a slightly more mature version of the 16 year old Tom Riddle that Harry faced in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry paled as his mind reeled with shock. Voldemort was in his head!

As this thought was completed, a middle-aged man with black hair streaked with grey on his sideburns popped into existence in Harry's dream world. Harry instantly drew his wand and pointed it at the man - he looked far too much like the teenaged Tom Riddle from Harry's point of view and, with the conclusion he'd just drawn, he knew that the sensible "voice" in his head was just another plot of Voldemort's. Had he ever truly driven him from his mind, or was he just sitting, biding his time?

"Harry, I know how you must be feeling right now." The older man began slowly, deliberately making his actions non-threatening. Harry's eyes narrowed as he held his wand steady, ready to curse Voldemort into oblivion if necessary.

"Stop. Don't get any closer, _Voldemort._" Harry spat viciously; he was understandably still upset at being manipulated into thinking the voice wasn't evil.

"It's just Tom, now, Harry. Please call me Tom. The person I was...Voldemort...you killed long ago." Harry had no idea what he was talking about, but he was used to Voldemort's lies and didn't pay much attention.

"Get out of my head, Voldemort...Tom...whatever you want to be called. Get out now, you don't belong here. I'll fight you." Harry threatened weakly. If this _was_ Voldemort, Harry knew that he stood little chance of success, even if his mind was the battlefield. _Wait a minute..._Harry thought to himself, _if this is my dream, then I should control what it looks like. _He imagined that he was in front of Hogwarts, and focused hard on it; he smirked as the great castle suddenly appeared behind him, and ran through the doors to the Entrance Hall.

"Harry, wait! I need to explain some things to you!" _Tom_ called after him as he gave chase. Harry, remembering the layout of the castle quite well from the Marauder's Map, ran through the castle until he got to the statue of the hump-backed witch and muttered under his breath so that the witch moved out of the way; knowing Tom was right behind him, he moved the witch back to cover up the entrance and silently huddled in the corridor.

"Harry, I know you're there. The entire dream world revolves around your thoughts, so its rather difficult to hide. I also know you can hear me. If you feel safer in that passageway, you may stay there, but please listen to what I have to say; its very important. Alright, where to start...

"You know that I am, or once was, the man you know as Lord Voldemort. But I am not all of him; if that makes any sense at all. Voldemort, because he feared death so greatly, split his soul and hid those pieces away so that he could never be torn from this world and would live forever. When he attacked you that, his soul was in seven pieces - he believed that seven, being a powerfully magical number, would grant his soul some shred of stability and save him from the inevitable insanity that having a permanently ruptured soul brings on. However, when his curse was deflected, his soul was further split and one piece hidden not in an object, but inside of you, Harry. You were so young that this piece of Voldemort's soul intermingled with your own, with little tendrils affecting you in a myriad of ways: you became moodier and you are a parseltongue, for instance. In most, this piece of soul would have been more than enough to corrupt you to become a destructive, unbalanced person much like Voldemort himself, but you were strong enough - such a pure and good person - that you instead changed the piece of Voldemort's soul for the better.

"In the Ministry, Voldemort attempted to possess you using the Horcrux - that's what a split piece of soul inside you is called - but could not stay because of the utter purity of your own soul. In forcing him out, you also severed many connections to your own soul that the Horcrux had made for fourteen years. Thus, here I am - a Tom Riddle influenced by you and your childhood." Tom's speech stopped as Harry emerged from behind the statue of the witch, his wand trained on Tom, _No, Voldemort_, he mentally chastised himself.

"So you have all my memories, as you've lived my life here beside me." Harry stated.

"Yes, Harry. And you have some of mine, as you've started to notice. Currently you have all of the knowledge I gained in Hogwarts, and for a few years beyond. Soon, all the rest of the knowledge will...assimilate itself." Tom explained. He held no wand, Harry noticed, and had not yet done anything overtly threatening. Still, Harry kept his guard up.

"So why don't you go back to Voldemort like a good little piece of soul - Horcrux, whatever you are - and tell him all of my secrets? Then he can attack my aunt and uncle's house, kill me, and live eternally ever after." Harry demanded harshly.

"Even if I could, Harry - which I cannot, I assure you - I would not. I told you Harry, instead of Voldemort's soul turning you evil, quite the opposite happened and you turned a small piece of Voldemort...well, I wouldn't say good exactly, but...human would be a good word. You'll find that I share many of the same views that you do as, in fact, we formed the opinions together in many cases." Tom paused awkwardly for a moment before continuing, "Harry, I thought about just letting you live your life free of me, just keeping silent forever, but...I want to help you, Harry."

Harry let out a short chuckle as he raised his wand, which he'd unconsciously let dip slightly, back to point at Voldemort, "Okay, now I know you're lying. You told me yourself, the one thing Voldemort fears more than any other is death. Why would he, or some 'human' version of him, aid in bringing about his own death?"

"An excellent question, Harry. I no longer like to consider myself Voldemort. Rather, I am Tom Riddle, a person Voldemort could have become if circumstances had been different. Truly, I am more a result of your own personality than Voldemort's. He is a fearsomely powerful wizard, Harry; he is also exceedingly knowledgeable, possibly more so than any other wizard except Dumbledore; however, he does have weaknesses. Together, we can explore those weaknesses and find a way to beat him, Harry. Here, in your mind, I can aid you in getting comfortable with the spells you will now know. I can help you in any way you need, Harry, I offer any aid I can give you."

"Well Tom, then answer me this. If I have all of Voldemort's knowledge, then why don't I have his memories? I should have endless memories of torturing muggles and killing off countless wizards, but I find that I can only recite the names of the victims and describe how they died...its not like when I watch him through my scar connection." This had come up in Harry's mind some time ago, and he was quite interested in a reasonable answer.

"Well, first off, you have only all the knowledge collected by Voldemort before the night your parents were killed; I am uncertain as to how much he has learned since then, although I believe that he gained a significant amount of experience with possession and likely a fair bit about body creation and rituals to merge it with a soul, given what we know of his activities. And finally, about the memories… The reason you do not have them is that I hold them. I released the knowledge as it was crucial for you to have; the memories are...quite unpleasant, Harry. I am quite ashamed of my behavior and the atrocities I committed. I would protect you from watching countless innocent's die by what will seem like your wand." Tom appeared contrite as he said this.

"How can you keep things from me, if I apparently can't keep anything from you?" Harry said, thinking he'd found a hole in this story that, in a strange way, made more sense than anything he'd come up with.

"Ah, another good question, Harry. I am a sufficiently skilled Occlumens that I can shield my thoughts when I so desire. However, knowing how we don't like to have information hidden from us, I will make you a promise to share my thoughts and relevant memories with you. I will, if necessary, even show you the revolting memories that I have. I will also help you with your Occlumency." Harry thought this over, and shook his head in agreement.

"Alright, but don't hide things from me just because you think I'm not ready for it. If you think that, you may tell me the content and let me be the judge. Also, I'm pretty pitiful at Occlumency and quit my lessons with Snape." Harry grimaced at the reminder of that fiasco.

"Agreed. Also, I think that you will find that, without Voldemort's soul influencing you, Occlumency, along with shielding your emotions, will become easier. After all, you have half as many thoughts and emotions to deal with. After all, I will be using my own Occlumency and I guarantee you, no mere Potions Master can penetrate my mind." Harry smirked, amazed at how comfortable he was around his nemesis after such a short time. _Well, he doesn't really look like Voldemort, after all_. Indeed, Tom did look more _human_ than any incarnation of Voldemort than Harry had ever seen. Even the sixteen year-old Riddle had a perpetual sneer marring his handsome face; this version seemed happier, and actually smiled as he made a crack at Snape. _And he made a crack at Snape. Commendable._ Harry smirked, but thought, _But still…I can't trust him so easily. Look at what happened when I trusted those visions about the Department of Mysteries._

"Indeed, the Potions Master is quite unfriendly, isn't he?" Tom smiled as he explained, "Yes Harry, you do indeed broadcast your thoughts quite loudly. I couldn't help but overhear, really. Of course, you really do need to work on clearing your head every night; that's the first step of Occlumency." Harry nodded, noting that Tom was conspicuously silent about the lack of trust Harry had for him.

"One more thing, Harry. If you are to be successful in your battle with Voldemort, we need to work on strengthening your magic, and the only way to do that is with practice. At the orphanage, I was working with nonverbal wandless magic consciously for a year and a half before I began Hogwarts, which _very_ quickly strengthens your magic; you cannot even do nonverbal magic. Of course, for you to practice, the Trace will need to be broken." Tom said to him. Harry, quite truthfully, didn't know what he was talking about.

"Uh…what is the trace? And how can you do wandless magic?" Harry questioned. As soon as he asked the question, knowledge of the subject flooded his mind; it really was quite annoying to not know what you know.

"Harry, you've seen Voldemort do wandless magic, as well as Dumbledore. You've also done it yourself, though you were rather flustered at the time. Do you remember the _lumos_ spell you cast while fighting those Dementors last year? Or how about when you blew up Aunt Marge? Or when you Apparated to the top of the Muggle school? All of these were cases of accidental wandless magic that happen to all magical youngsters. Of course, it is much more difficult, and draining, to do this intentionally. And the Trace, as I'm sure you've remembered, is how the Ministry tracks Underage Magic. Of course, if you retreat to your magical core and draw back in the tendril of magic leading off to the Ministry, they will be ignorant of your magic use. They will, of course, also be ignorant of any unlicensed Apparition you may do in the future. You must make that trip alone; I may suggest doing so immediately when you awaken, for morning has arrived, and it is time for you to wake up." As Tom completed his last sentence, Harry was indeed jerked back to the realm of the awake, and shook his head to clear it.

_Was that a dream, or do I really have Voldemort in my head?_ Harry thought in his half-awake state.

_Sorry to disappoint, Harry, but I really am here. And I told you before, I really prefer Tom to a childish nickname I made up in school._

_Well, there's my answer_, Harry thought ruefully. _Now, I have to go see my magical core._

Harry closed his eyes and retreated deep within himself, as he somehow knew how to do. Deep within him was a pulsing golden ball of magic. It was beautiful, ethereal: pure magic in an unadulterated state. The closest magic he knew that could replicate this was a patronus, but that was merely a cheap knock-off, a mere shadow of the pure magic. Mentally shaking his head, he refocused on the task at hand: sever the Trace. Seeming to float all around the ball, he found two tiny tendrils that flew away from his core. Wasn't there supposed to only be one Trace? Thinking back, he realized that Dumbledore must have put a Trace on him too – how else did he know about the magic use last summer; his letter had arrived at almost the same time as the Ministry's! _Most interesting_, Harry concluded. He supposed it was a good idea, though, because if he'd done magic, it most likely meant that something was attacking him, and Dumbledore would have wanted to know about that.

He grabbed hold of the tendril and, with a mental grunt of exertion, yanked hard, pulling the magic back to himself. Hand over hand, he was relieved to finally see the end of the magic tendril in sight, and sighed with relief as it rejoined his magical core. He repeated his efforts with the other tendril – this one seemed to be even longer and more resilient than the last. That made sense though, as Hogwarts was further away than London, and Dumbledore was certainly a more powerful wizard than whoever else put the Trace on him, unless Tom Riddle served some time delivering babies at St. Mungo's without his knowledge. Harry chuckled slightly at THAT mental picture, which was quite ridiculous to see his burning red eyes as he said, "Congratulations, it's a boy!" Finally, the tendril's end was in sight and it, too, was returned to Harry's magical core. Harry again sighed in relief as he forced himself to emerge from his core and back in to the real world.

Harry's sight cleared and he immediately lay down on the bed he was sitting on. He'd awoken just before his excursion to his magical core, but he felt like he'd run a marathon!

Hedwig hooted irritably at Harry as he finally arose from his bed. She glared at him, then gestured to her food dish, which was empty. Harry took out some treats for her as he filled up the dish, hoping that would make it up to her and she wouldn't nip him hard; it didn't, and she bit his finger as if to say, "You don't think this makes up for it, do you?" Harry smirked at his predictable pet and filled up her water dish too, which seemed somewhat empty. He finally noticed the letter on her leg and detached it, finding that it was from Hermione as he'd dreaded. If he had done all of those runes in the puzzle correctly, then this wasn't just some weird dream/vision where he'd learned some new things. It was real, and he had the knowledge of a psychotic killer crammed into his head. Summoning up that Gryffindor courage, he tore open the envelope and started in on the letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_Wow, I'm so glad to hear that you've been having a productive end of the year and summer! I'm sorry to admit that I thought that you didn't accomplish much after our trip to the Ministry, but I'm certainly pleased to be disproved. I checked over your work on the runic puzzle (I'm so glad to hear that you have taken them up - I've been doing them ever since we met Luna last year and I think that they REALLY helped me out on my Ancient Runes O.W.L. I'm curious, however, as to the origin of this sudden interest in Runes - are you contemplating a career in curse breaking like Bill? I'm told it's an exceedingly difficult career choice that requires excellent N.E.W.T. results in Runes, so you might have come on board a little late. But, if you study really hard extracurricularly, you may be prepared to take the O.W.L. by our seventh year and then work on N.E.W.T. work after school. In either case, I'm happy that you found such a constructive way to spend your summer!_

_In fact, you've convinced me to owl-order all of my N.E.W.T. books even earlier than I anticipated and I've been taking a look through them. N.E.W.T. Runes looks fascinating because we start dealing with wards and how to tie them to runestones (which is the only way to really make them at all permanent, of course). I think that will be one of my favorite classes, but of course it has lots of competition with Arithmancy and Transfiguration. I'm ever so excited to begin Human Transfiguration this year also, of course, and Arithmancy is always fascinating with the broad variety of topics covered._

_Anyway Harry, I do hope that your summer is going well, and I might see you at the Burrow, where I'll be staying later this summer. _

_Keep safe,_

_Hermione_

Harry smiled at the letter that contained so much of Hermione's personality in it. When she wrote, it was almost like he could hear her in his ear, jabbering on excitedly in a whirlwind about every topic under the sun.

_So Harry, when are you going to ask her out?_ Tom teased mentally, finally communicating with him again - a first since he'd emerged from his core.

_Hermione?! I'm not really interested in her like that, Tom...she's like a sister to me!_ Harry defended. He heard a mental chuckle from Tom as he countered, _Oh really? I've been in your thoughts, Harry. Hermione is a nice girl, and she has...developed quite a bit from the bushy-haired bookworm you saved from a troll, as you well noticed. Need I remind you of the Yule Ball? You're attracted to her, even if you think of her as a sister._ Harry reddened. True, Hermione had become pretty, and even prettier since the Yule Ball, but she was still like a sister to him.

_I guess she's pretty, but...I just don't think of her like that. Besides, I think a certain redhead DOES think of her like that._ Harry smirked, well aware of the reasons behind Ron's jealousy.

_You think so? Ginny and Hermione, huh? Well, I guess you can fantasize if you wish..._Harry's eyes bugged out slightly at THAT mental picture, one he quickly banished from his thoughts so that Tom couldn't see it.

_Excellent Occlumency work there, Harry. I told you it'd come naturally. Now, you must realize that those thoughts are perfectly normal for a boy your age, Harry. Personally I never fell in love, but I used my charm to great effect on many poor girls in the Slytherin dorms. I encourage you to seek out the love you have never experienced - it will give you something to fight for. If not Hermione, than perhaps the other redhead in your mental picture...or Ron, if therein lies your interest_. That brought Harry up short as he exclaimed aloud.

"What? RON?! You know I'm not like that!" He cried, momentarily forgetting the mental communication.

_Harry, there's nothing to be ashamed of. After all, when I was in school the Hufflepuff boy's dorm was rife with it, I always heard. And of course, the older Slytherin's commonly took aside a first-year for "initiation". I'm sure your dorm is similar, or will be this coming year._ Harry shook his head - he too had heard rumors about other dorms, but had never witnessed it himself.

"BOY! What the bloody HELL are you screaming about?" Harry's face whitened slightly before Tom suggested a good idea.

"Oh, nothing, Uncle Vernon. Just talking to Mr. Moody from the train station. He's invisible right now." Harry smirked as Uncle Vernon turned ghost white and started backing out of the room quickly.

"Wha-wh-what? H-he can turn invisible? Can you all do that?" Harry beamed as he walked over to his trunk and slipped on his invisibility cloak.

"Of course, Uncle Vernon," Harry said invisibly; he moved right next to Uncle Vernon's ear and finished with a whisper, "you will never know when a wizard's around unless they want you to know." Vernon sped out of the room, terrified he called up to Harry a few seconds later, safely away from the teenaged wizard.

"Well, lunch'll be in an hour or so. Don't want you to miss a good helping sized meal, right Harry?" Harry smiled. As much food as he can eat? This summer was _certainly_ looking up. Maybe he should have acted more Slytherin from the get-go...

_Yes, I've always found that intimidation tactics like that are far more effective than actual violence like Gryffindor's often employ. You can most assuredly duel any Slytherin, and likely many Death Eaters to a standstill, but can still be intimidated by threat of force and superior numbers. This is, of course, why Voldemort made sure to eliminate any wizards or witches with the crass to say his name - he put Death Eater spies everywhere who would report back to him when the name was said, and he would have that person killed. This generated the "You-Know-Who" generation who won't say his name, even after his supposed death. Coincidentally, he developed plans to integrate the word "Voldemort" as a part of the Trace on under-aged wizards and Apparition detection for of-age wizards so that he would instantly know when someone dared use his name. That is incidentally why I know enough about the Trace to eliminate it from you. He never succeeded with his plan, but the magic was all worked out; if he can get the control in the Ministry this time around, I've no doubt that he'll do the same._ Tom explained. As much as Harry still resented the presence of Voldemort, as he occasionally insisted on thinking of him, in his head, he was now starting to admit that Tom was knowledgeable and fairly wise. Even if he did think Harry was a poof. Harry didn't think his wisdom applied to that kind of thing anyway.

_Now, Harry, as I mentioned, you need to work on strengthening your magical core. Voldemort, in addition to using several dark rituals that I don't recommend, to enhance his power, started with controlled bouts of wandless magic since age 9. He frequently had outbursts of accidental magic prior to that. So, levitate that book._ Tom mentally motioned to the copy of _Intermediate Transfiguration_ lying inside Harry's opened trunk. Harry, knowing how the process of wandless magic worked thanks to Tom's knowledge, reached out his hand, focused on levitating the book, and channeled magic through his arm to his outstretched hand. The book barely vibrated, but Harry's energy seemed sapped a little.

_You've got to be kidding me, that's all I can do?!_ Harry mentally screamed. Tom chuckled and replied, _Well, that's what you get for not making use of your magic for so long, only using magic in class as needed. You should be lucky that you're an above-average powered wizard to begin with, or you might not get that far._

Harry sighed, realizing that this process of building up his "magical muscle" so to speak, was going to take a long time, and pulled a feather out of his pillow. Attempting to levitate it, he did so, and it flew to the ceiling. Tom gave him pointers to improve his control, but to improve his stamina he merely needed practice.

After an hour's work, Harry was able to make the feather levitate to a height he desired and dance in the air. He had virtually no effect when he tried the Summoning and Banishing charms, but consoled himself that these were 4th year material. He was sweating when Aunt Petunia called him down for lunch.

Uncle Vernon spent the entirely of lunch with his eyes moving wildly around the room, attempting to find the invisible Moody he believed present. When he asked in a whisper to Harry whether he was present, Harry looked around, narrowed his eyes, and then smiled brightly and waved to "Moody". Vernon snapped to attention and spent the rest of the meal white as a ghost and loudly asking if Harry needed anything. It was a good thing that Dudley was at a friend's house this Saturday, or he would have been totally confused at this turn of events.

Refreshed and stuffed from the meal, Harry retired to his bedroom to continue his experimentation with wandless magic. By the end of the day, which consisted of practice and a sizable dinner with the Dursleys, he nearly cheered when the heavy _Intermediate Transfiguration_ book raised almost a full foot from its place in his trunk when he levitated it. Clearing his mind with an Occlumency exercise, he changed into his nightclothes and quickly fell asleep.

Before starting his daily exercises the next morning, Harry decided to make his room a bit more comfortable. Using some charms that Tom had learned in his later years at school, Harry performed an Undetectable Extension Charm on his room to quadruple the size of it; as it was the same size as the Dursley's oversized parlor - Uncle Vernon had many guests to impress, after all, and therefore the parlor was one of the most important rooms in the house - Harry found he had quite enough room to be comfortable. He transfigured his bed into a four-poster reminiscent of his bed at Hogwarts - though Tom was still not impressed with the detail work - and turned several of Dudley's old broken toys into lamps, shelving for his new desk, and a bookshelf for his schoolbooks. The desk, chair, and matching bookshelf were his masterpieces. After quite a few alterations, he finally got them to a rich mahogany with elegant handles on the desk drawers and a large, overstuffed chair or deep red leather and gold fastenings. Even Tom offered congratulations on a job well done, even if it did take him a few tries. Harry also added a few giant pillows for him to sit on as he cleared his mind. A few more ties become elegant throw rugs and the look was completed. He grinned as he surveyed his work, which Tom congratulated him on. While he "knew" all of the spells to do the transfiguration work, it took a lot of practice for him to make them work properly, much less do detailed work like his desk; this was a far cry from Voldemort, who could have done Harry's hour of work with a few lazy swipes of his wand.

For the next few days, Harry's schedule varied little. After the levitation and manipulation charms were performed wandlessly, Tom also gave pointers to Harry on nonverbal casting, which, Tom explained, was also more difficult than regular-cast spells, but not as draining as wandless magic. Tom insisted that verbal wandless magic was far too easy for Harry to work on, as he was progressing well with nonverbal wandless magic. Scorch marks from nonverbal stunners, bludgeoning spells, Impediment curses, and several other offensive spells littered the walls before Harry worked on nonverbal_Reparo_ spells. Transfiguration, too, was touched upon, as Harry nonverbally transfigured part of his wall into a mirror and then worked on first nonverbal shields and then wandless shields - this stopped when he tired of getting hit with his wanded Stinging Hexes that couldn't be blocked by his wandless _Protego_ shields. However, the shields, weak as they were, still raised, and so he considered it an accomplishment.

Following this, Tom proclaimed him powerful enough to begin working on the more powerful and more specialized shields in addition to keeping up his work on wandless magic. He would work these out first with a wand, and then nonverbally. Tom wanted him to then move on to wandless shield-work, but Harry couldn't even raise the least among these improved shields wandlessly. The _Fortis Aegis_ shield was glowing silver where the _Protego_ shield was golden; it was slightly more powerful, but also blocked physical attacks equally as well as magical ones - a major downfall of the _Protego_ shield. The _Absolvo Ancile_ shield turned out a whitish sphere - Tom's _Absolvo_ was a grey dome - that was much more powerful than both the _Protego_ and _Aegis_ shields, but had a similar weakness to physical attacks as did the_Protego_. It was also much more difficult to cast than either of the lesser shields. This shield was used most frequently in duels - Harry had seen it several times in the Atrium battle being cast both nonverbally by Dumbledore and wandlessly by Voldemort; Dumbledore did not possess quite the talent for wandless magic that Voldemort did.

Finally, Harry attempted the most powerful personal shield, the _Imprimis Patrocinor_. This was the shield Voldemort used that appeared as a giant silver shield with the emblem of Slytherin on it while fighting Dumbledore. Incredibly complex and requiring gobs of power to erect, this shield was the ultimate protection against anything but an Unforgivable. Harry could not erect this shield until almost two weeks after he arrived at Privet Drive, and was beginning to think he had a block for it until finally he shoved all of his power through his wand and blocked the stinging hex the mirror reflected back with a metallic blue shield adorned with a red and gold Gryffindor Lion. He smiled - the best part about the _Imprimis_ shield was that it was easy to maintain; only the initial casting took any sizable exertion of power. The other shields required just as much power to keep erect. However, the _Imprimis_ shield was unidirectional, and in fact only protected a small area. No one shield was perfect for every situation, which was why a skilled duelist knew many shields and their uses.

After Harry had mastered all of the shields – except the _Imprimis_, which he worked on concurrently with the next few spells – he began to work on additional offensive spells nonverbally. Tom's knowledge of dark and savage curses was likely second to none, but Harry avoided most of these curses like the plague, instead focusing on mildly damaging curses that were, importantly, more powerful than the elementary _Stupefy_ spell. The Reductor Curse, one of those learned in preparation for the Third Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, was still quite useful; a more powerful version known by Tom was the _Confringo_ Blasting Curse. One of his favorite curses was a combination spell –_Conligo Totalus_ was a binding spell that provided the benefits of both the Full Body Bind Curse and the _Incarcerous_ spell all in one. The Bone Breaking and Bone Shattering Curses were both pretty nasty additions to his repertoire; he greatly enjoyed the Fire Whip curse that he'd seen Dumbledore use in the Ministry as well, but he had yet to really master the control of the whip. Harry resolutely swore off using the Cruciatus or the Killing Curse, though Tom insisted that the Imperius Curse, in some situations, was certain to be useful; Harry still thought that he'd try something, anything else before resorting to the Unforgivable.

During these two weeks, Harry also spent some time just conversing with Tom. Instead of the mentally unbalanced and evil persona he still expected to find every time, Tom seemed to be a reasonable, frightfully intelligent, sarcastic adult that could identify quite well with Harry. Tom seemed able to read his mind – truthfully, he was just a _part_ of Harry's mind – with regard to what Harry could take ribbing about, what Harry wasn't ready to talk about, and what Harry needed to talk about. This last subject brought the only real argument between them to a head about a week and a half into their training, right after Harry informed Tom that he needed to learn the Cruciatus Curse (he swore it off later).

_I told you I'm fine, Tom. Just leave me the bloody hell alone!_ Harry thought angrily. He'd been getting better at merely_thinking_ at and not yelling at the voice in his head.

_I will not leave you alone and you are not fine! You've been throwing yourself into this training, learning troublingly dangerous curses, and have not given an ounce of thought towards dealing with your emotional baggage._ Tom berated.

_I'm fine. Now teach me how to make Bellatrix suffer more than Voldemort can._

_It's those thoughts that will make me not tell you the intricacies of that curse, Harry. If you don't deal with your problems, they will only get more explosive. If you give in to those urges, I guarantee that you will turn Dark. I will not sit by the wayside as another Dark wizard arises to replace Voldemort! I and many others care far too much about you to allow that, Harry!_ Tom pleaded.

_I won't turn Dark, Tom. It's only Bellatrix that will suffer – I swear I won't use it on anyone else._ Harry said; his anger was justified, and she'd certainly sent many others to a similar fate – this was justice.

_Only Bella? Why not Voldemort – he has commited far more atrocious acts. He killed your parents, after all._

_That's a good point – maybe him too, but no one else._ Harry conceded.

_Perhaps Lucius Malfoy too. He tortured your friend Dobby for many years, remember. Not to mention he was at the Ministry that night. And Dolohov, of course, nearly killed Hermione that night. And Pettigrew has a lot to answer for, naturally._ Tom urged.

_You're right, Tom. All of them have hurt my friends – I can't let them get away with that!_ Harry was starting to see the sense in all this.

_But Harry, with so many Death Eaters, you can't fight them all by yourself. You'll need some helpers._ Tom said. Harry started to realize that this wasn't a good idea, and began to backpedal.

_No, Tom. I'll just have my friends help, and then they can leave me alone with the Death Eaters who deserve the pain._

_But what if they don't want to, Harry. Would you torture them, too? Put them under your wand and watch them writhe in agony as you hold it? You could, you know…why, with those spells at your command, you could have anything. And therein lies the problem, Harry. They're addictive. If you torture and kill Bella, you'll find that it leaves you even more empty and hollow than when you began, and no matter how many you kill, how much revenge you take, you will never be satisfied. I know this, Harry – better than anyone. I took revenge for all of the wrongs put on me by the boys in the orphanage, my father who abandoned me, children who'd tease me…all of them. And you know, Harry, that hollow feeling – the pain – it never did go away. Only this small piece of Tom Riddle's soul, the part that regained its humanity through your goodness, doesn't have to live with the pain. So, you want the pain to go away? Face it, embrace it, and know that it has no power over you. To do any less is to disrespect the memory of those you love._ Harry, of course, had no response for this other than a night of tears from facing his grief. In the morning, he found that Tom was more right than he could have imagined, and he proceeded with this training after swearing to never use the Cruciatus Curse.

His wandless magic, along with his stamina, improved by leaps and bounds during these two weeks. He was now able to levitate and manipulate his entire trunk – he'd snuck down to the basement where Dudley kept a weight set to practice levitating those, summon some objects such as books and Hedwig's cage, fully cast the _Protego_ shield and even a rather weak _Fortis Aegis_, and shoot out mild stunners from his fingertips. He had worked on some Transfiguration, and could now transfigure part of his wall into a mirror wandlessly. The real surprise, he thought, was his Banishing spell. Unlike the Summoning Spell, which he could only foresee using to get his wand back in a duel, he could banish his trunk against the wall with such force that it almost went through the wall – this turned into great practice for his nonverbal _Reparo_ spells too. Vanishing the owl droppings in Hedwig's cage with but a wave of his hand was rather convenient too, he found.

His relatives were treating him quite oddly, though much better than in the past. If they threatened him, Harry need only make his eyes go wide and say, "No, Professor Moody, I'm sure Uncle Vernon didn't mean that – no reason to draw your wand." For Vernon to let out a squeal, fall over and scramble away from Harry as fast as he could manage. The first time this happened, Harry laughed until tears flooded his eyes. Of course, he could have cursed his relatives into oozing slugs reminiscent of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle, but since the same effect occurred regardless, he saw no reason to do so.

_That, Harry, is one thing that makes you very different from Voldemort - judicious use of force versus excessive use of force and random violence and terrorism._ Tom was always quite complementary of Harry when he resisted the urge to use his magic to solve arguments. Harry, ever eager to separate himself from Voldemort in any way, had yet to use magic on his relatives. He also thought this good training for school, since he wouldn't be able to curse Draco Malfoy every time he deserved, much as he wanted to, without spending (and deserving) time in detention. Harry rather thought that this demonstrated considerable maturity on his part, while Tom believed that it was his influence.

Bad news came almost daily, however, in the form of the subscription to the _Daily Prophet_. While ceasing to spread lies about himself and Dumbledore, they now reported the constant attacks of Voldemort and his minions. It was not uncommon for a large front page picture and cover article devoted to an attack on a prominent family - the Boneses, the Abbotts, Emmeline Vance who Harry recognized from the Order - and a smaller section on Muggle casualties - the loose Dementors responsible for cooler weather and attacks on Muggles, the Brockdale Bridge sending a dozen cars into the river, Muggle in the Ministry suffers aftereffects of _Imperius_ Curse. Each day brought in editorials about the reasons for You-Know-Who's aggression, speculation as to what Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter were doing fighting Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries and the Atrium, articles hailing Harry Potter as "The Chosen One" prophesized to destroy Voldemort (a shockingly accurate guess!), and many calls for Fudge to lose his position as Minister of Magic. Harry was quite pleased at having the man, who he held responsible for several cases of making his life miserable, sacked immediately; however, Tom warned him that it would be an excellent inroad for Voldemort to worm his way further into the Ministry and eventually take control. Harry was somewhat comforted that a man named Rufus Scrimgeour, formerly Head of the Aurors, was elected. After all, if anyone could lead the fight against a Dark wizard, it would be the Dark wizard hunters. Tom remained skeptical.

After his two weeks of determined, exhausting work, Harry was working on his wandless casting and dodging (courtesy of an irregularly shaped mirror on his wall) when he noticed a small brown barn owl tapping on his window. It looked similar to the many employed by Hogwarts, with a beautiful heart-shaped white face lined by brown. Harry remembered – courtesy of Tom – that Hagrid had selectively bred the notoriously clever Hogwarts owls as one of his first tasks after expulsion. Harry, remembering that he'd lately been neglecting his first-ever friend, promised to mention it one day when he met Hagrid for tea. Thinking of Hagrid brought on thoughts of his classes, which in turn brought on thoughts of his O.W.L. results, which should have been coming shortly. He knew they were quite a ways away from Tom's straight O's – a Hogwarts record, getting O's in classes you'd never attended. Tom had, in his spare time, learned Divination and Muggle Studies, while attending Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures for electives and received thirteen perfect O.W.L.s. Judging by Harry's own lack of free time during his first five years at Hogwarts, he had no idea how Tom managed that without a time turner, but then, even Dumbledore admitted that Tom had always been a brilliant student.

Releasing the burden from the owl's leg, he noticed the Hogwarts crest stamped in green wax as the owl flew back home. Opening the letter, he found a short missive from Professor Dumbledore – he knew that it'd been too early for O.W.L. results.

_Harry,_

_I am pleased to inform you that I shall be arriving at the Dursleys' home this coming Saturday promptly at 6 o'clock p.m. to bring you to the Burrow, where you shall spend the remainder of your holiday with the Weasleys, Miss Granger, and perhaps a few more friends. I also have a few other things to discuss with you when I arrive._

_Enjoy your week,_

_Albus P.W.B. Dumbledore_

_Order of Merlin, First Class_

_Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_P.S. You'll be pleased to hear that I've restored some of the necessary clutter in my office, and removed the rest. Thank you for your help in my spring-cleaning, my office has not been so neat in nearly thirty years._

_Of course, the one summer I get to threaten the Dursley's with invisible Moodys and practice magic to my heart's content, I'm forced to leave earlier than ever before._ Harry thought wryly.

_Oh, do quit your ridiculous teenaged complaining, Harry. You know as well as I do that you're lonely and would like nothing more than the company of a certain red-head…_Tom chastised.

_How many times do I have to tell you that I am not gay until you stop with the Ron jokes, Tom?!_ Harry mentally screamed.

_…I was referring to Ginny, Harry. Interesting that you automatically assume Ron, though…makes you wonder, doesn't it?_ Harry threw his hands up, exasperated, when he realized that Vernon and Dudley had been watching his facial expressions change during his silent conversation and had witnessed him throwing his hands up in defeat at apparently nothing. Neither muggle said anything for a moment, and Harry took a moment to wave his wand around.

"There, I dispelled the privacy spell. Sorry about that, just having a little conversation with Moody – you remember, lots of scars and a scary eye? Anyway, what can I do for you?" Harry asked, mentally thanking Tom's Occlumency lessons for being able to lie so straight-faced.

"Uh…well…Dudley had a crazy thought and I just wanted you to tell him it was crazy. This cold weather we're having…its just a cold snap, right? Dudley said that it felt like those Demento-thingies. It's just the weather, right? Your kind doesn't have anything to do with it." Vernon appeared to get more frightened even as he spoke, and grew uncertain. Harry's face darkened.

"Very astute, Dudley. You're absolutely correct. The weather change is because the Dementors are mating." Dudley paled and faintly stuttered, "M-m-mmating?"

"Yeah. If you want my advice, don't spend much time outside – you won't be able to see them even if they're sucking your soul out. If you feel the effects worsen, run to the nearest house, car, whatever."

"I thought _your people_ controlled them or something? Don't they guard a prison?" Vernon demanded.

"Well, they used to. Now, they've joined forces with the psycho killer who murdered my parents," _and happens to be in my head_, "and he gives them pretty much free reign to suck the souls out of muggles." Harry finished. This information did not appear to ease the minds of the Dursleys.

"Are-are we safe here, Harry?" Dudley whimpered.

"Yeah, of course. The blood wards – the reason I stay here is to make them stronger – will keep you safe from them. Also, they can't really fly through walls, so you'd have to open a door or something to let them in. So you're safe. Even if they got in, though, I can cast the magic to drive them away." Harry calmed them.

"So all your kind can do that, and just leave us normal people to have our souls eaten, then? Typical." Vernon grunted his displeasure.

"Oh no, most magic people can't cast it. It's a pretty difficult charm. If all witches and wizards could cast it, the Dementors wouldn't be very effective, after all." Harry explained.

"Wh-why can you cast it?" Dudley questioned.

"Well…I used to have a rather bad reaction to them, so I learned how to drive them off. Took me most of a year to learn, but I got the hang of it and drove back almost a hundred that year." Harry explained without exaggerating.

"What do you hear when they're around?" Dudley asked in a soft whisper.

"My mum and dad, on that night they were murdered." Harry said, just as softly. Vernon had nothing to add at this point, but Petunia, ever the eavesdropper, came out from behind him and asked, "You hear Lily?"

Harry, shocked that his aunt had actually mentioned his mum, only nodded. Petunia looked torn, wistful look, gave a sharp nod, and hurried downstairs. Harry, perplexed by this entire encounter, closed the door to his room and continued his work on wandless casting and dodging.

The next six days, too, passed by quickly for Harry. He discovered that a Disillusionment spell with his wand, coupled with wandless Silencing Charms around both of his feet, made him nearly impossible to detect – he practiced by sneaking around the kitchen while Aunt Petunia was in it and moving things around; this led Petunia to ask Harry if ghosts really existed and explained the occurrences. With a serious face, he said that it was more likely a poltergeist since ghosts can't move objects. She paled and quickly left him alone. His wandless Silencing charm got practice as he cackled with glee, but no sound reached the Dursleys.

Finally, Harry sat in the Dursleys' foyer with his trunk and school supplies all packed away, awaiting Dumbledore's arrival. As much as he would have liked to continue the rather intense conditioning he was undergoing, Harry did long for his friends and some company; with only the Dursleys to talk with, he rather feared that he'd become anti-social.

A soft 'pop' from outside drew his attention, and when the doorbell rang, he broke out into a smile. He flung the door open and hurriedly invited the Headmaster inside.

"Hello, Harry. You seem to be doing all right, then. Marvelous. Why don't we say farewell to your relatives and then be off." Harry wasn't sure this was the best idea, but led Dumbledore into the family room, where the Dursleys were watching television. Dudley, upon seeing the aged wizard, leapt – Harry was impressed with how quickly he moved, actually – off of the couch and hid behind it.

"Right, then. Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon…I'm leaving for the rest of the summer. I'll be back next year. See you, Dudley." Vernon grunted in acknowledgement, Petunia nodded sharply, and Dudley squeaked. Harry supposed he could hardly blame his cousin; every time he met an adult wizard, he ended up with either an enlarged tongue or a pig's tail. Though Professor Dumbledore was a former Transfiguration teacher and undoubtedly a master of the subject, Harry didn't think Dudley would be severely altered after this encounter. _A pity…_He thought with a smirk.

"All right, then, Harry. Now let me shrink your trunk for you," he tapped it with his wand and it became the size of a deck of playing cards; Harry put it in his back pocket, "and we'll be on our way. You'll feel slight pressure as I Side-Along Apparate with you." Harry nodded. He grabbed Dumbledore's left arm and they disappeared with a slightly louder 'pop' than with which Dumbledore arrived.

A/N: I have "borrowed" several spells from other wonderful stories that are on my favorites list. The shield spells mentioned are from LordDwar's "Summer of Change", as is the _Conligo Totalus_ spell. I hope you can see that I am trying to paint a realistic portrait of canon Harry if he were to have some access to the knowledge of Voldemort. I reiterate, if it seems unclear, that Harry, while a wizard of above-average power for his age, is nothing special. He will, with all of the wandless magic to strengthen him, grow slightly more powerful than canon Harry, but the final battle will not be a Dumbledore/Voldemort-esque clash of two superpowers; Harry is not a superpower, just knowledgeable. That said, most of the magic taught at Hogwarts will be quite easy for him, once he practices a bit, because most of it doesn't require great expenditures of energy to cast.


	2. If the Order Ain't Broke, Try to Fix It

Howdy folks, and thanks for the kind reviews, I really appreciate it. I've not yet totally decided on pairings in this story, as most of them right now are still in the crush phase. Although I do have to say that Remus/Tonks is pretty likely (and they'll certainly be given more than the few mentions that the canon story gives them), and that Hermione has had a crush on Ron for a _long_ time in canon, and that Ron has recently started to reciprocate her feelings. Also, canonRon confuses me in that he seems to have spots where he acts more mature than Hermione, who oftentimes doesn't give me the feeling that she's matured much beyond the bushy-haired, bossy know-it-all we first met of the Hogwarts Express, but then reverts back to a jealous prat. I'm going to be attempting to write the mature Ron who has instances where he reverts back to childish behavior, as even adults can, when pushed. Harry, however, will be more mature than in canon. Why? Because he suddenly has the memories of a 60-year old man. Granted, the combined emotional age of Harry and Voldemort in OOtP was slightly less than six, but Tom's had Harry's experience to propel him to a decent level of maturity – even if he is teasing and sarcastic to poor Harry – and Harry, without Voldemort breaking into his head constantly (and yes, it happened a great deal more than you may think in OOtP, I think) is able to be the funny, smart, caring person he should have been from his parents' personalities and the constant companionship of a mature adult who can nip tantrums in the bud. Anyway, enjoy!

**_Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge_**

Chapter Two: Enter the Walrus, and If the Order Ain't Broke, Try to fix it!

An old war memorial featuring the several names, likely the local casualties unwilling to be forgotten by time, decorated the sparse town square of the deserted village. Old stone benches surrounded the memorial, where in prior days townsfolk would sit and rest during their day of shopping, read out in the sunshine, or greet each other as they passed.

The silence was shattered with a 'pop' and the sudden arrival of two strangers. Both figures appeared nonplussed at their unique mode of arrival, and the taller looked around a bit before setting off in a direction; the shorter following him even before he uttered a, "This way, Harry."

Harry, having never Apparated before – though he instantly knew by the crushing, squeezing sensation that it was, indeed, Apparition – committed to memory the sensation and focused on the knowledge that sprung up from a past life on how to perform the magic himself; it would be a useful skill, after all. Dumbledore looked down in surprise at how well Harry seemed to take to the unfamiliar magic, and smiled.

"So how was your first experience with Apparition, Harry?" The aged Headmaster asked.

"Well, Professor, I find the experience no more nauseating than either a portkey or Floo travel." Dumbledore smirked, knowing Harry's difficulty with both forms of transportation, and nodded slightly. Harry took a moment to take in his surroundings. The surplus of green all around the village was not uncommon in Britain, and he could find nothing indeed that indicated either to himself or Tom that this was a place of some importance.

"Er, Professor? Where exactly are we headed?" Harry turned to Dumbledore and asked.

"Welcome to the charming little village of Budleigh Babberton, Harry." Dumbledore said as they climbed a steep street past an inn with no lights on and a few houses that were mostly dark. The clock on the church tower indicated that it was nearing seven o'clock. Harry waited for Dumbledore to clarify their purpose in visiting this lovely village, but Dumbledore seemed disinclined to elaborate, so Harry posed the question.

"We are here to visit an old friend, and convince him to once more take up the teaching position which seems to find itself vacant." Dumbledore said. Harry had no idea why Dumbledore had saved this trip for Harry's presence, but kept quiet; Tom's instincts made him more apt to discover the reasons on his own than ask Dumbledore. He very much wanted to know just who Dumbledore had found for a Defense Professor (and the likelihood of their attempted assassination of himself). They turned left abruptly at a narrow street lined with a few houses and continued walking as Harry contemplated an attempt at a conversation. He was about to open his mouth when they turned once more to face a neat stone house with a nice garden in front of it. Harry instantly noted that the front door seemed to have been blown off its hinges, and instinctively drew his wand as he searched the sky for the Dark Mark, which was not present. Dumbledore too, had drawn his wand; Harry noticed that his hand was shriveled and blackened – had that been the result of a curse from the Ministry battle? Harry forced the thoughts from his mind and focused on the situation at hand.

"Oh dear. Oh dear, dear, dear." Dumbledore started. The gate flew open as the Headmaster approached, and Harry followed him as he swiftly closed the distance to the door. Pushing it open gently, Harry and the Headmaster both cast beams of soft light upon the darkened house with their wands. Entering a door to the left, they emerged upon a scene of ruin. An elegant grandfather clock stood smashed – had a body been tossed into it, or was it a spell off its mark? Casting a silent revealing spell to discover what had caused the carnage made the whole scene more interesting. A bludgeoning curse had damaged the clock, a Flinging Hex had tossed a piano – an impressive feat, actually, another bludgeoner had destroyed the chandelier that lay smashed on the floor. Cutting hexes littered the cushions that spewed goose feather down all around the room. And most mysteriously, the thick red liquid on the wall radiated magic, but no particular spell. This was not the work of Death Eaters. There were no Unforgivables, no signs of torture, and that was certainly _not_ human blood coating the wall. If there had been a struggle, as it appeared, the Death Eaters would not have tossed around schoolboy hexes. When Harry noticed the transfigured armchair, his eyes narrowed with suspicion. Dumbledore, too, seemed to have notice something amiss with the scene.

"Well, Harry, it is certain that something horrible happened here." Harry resisted the impulse to scream 'FAKE!', and took another moment before responding.

"There seems to be a missing body. And if the sheer volume of blood on the wall is any indicator, then a missing corpse. Perhaps the body was taken as part of a new army of Inferi, as the Ministry seems to think likely. However...I'm not convinced." He said determinedly. Dumbledore nodded slowly and went over to the suspicious armchair lying on its side. Harry almost smirked - he knew Dumbledore couldn't have missed that. Dumbledore poked the armchair with his wand, and it reverted to a red-faced man of portly stature, who immediately adjusted his monocle.

"I say, Albus, no need to be so rough with the wand, there! Almost had you convinced, didn't I? Say, what tipped you off?" The man asked. He wore rather expensive robes of dark green velvet with silver fastenings and an elegant silver pocketwatch chain emerging from the left breast pocket. Harry immediately recognized him, but elected to keep this knowledge to himself, seeing as how he had no legitimate way to know Horace Slughorn without Tom's knowledge.

"My dear Horace, it was the lack of a Dark Mark that first indicated to me something was remiss. Had it been an actual Death Eater attack, they surely would not have forgotten that. Though I must say that the blood on the wall was rather convincing and nerve jarring, Horace. What species was it?" Dumbledore asked while peering down at the former Professor over his spectacles.

"Of course, the Dark Mark. Wouldn't have had time anyway, though. Only got two minute's notice from the perimeter charm – I was sitting at my table without even my wand, rather foolish looking back on it. It was dragon's blood, of course. No better substitute for creation of a scene like this - it spatters quite convincingly. Expensive though, and that was my last bottle; though I might be able to salvage it." He withdrew a large flask and, with a wave of his wand, the blood leapt off the wall and filled the flask. He seemed to examine it severely for a moment before corking it and replacing it in his robes.

"A little dusty, but good for at least one more use. If you don't mind assisting with the clean-up, Albus?" The Headmaster nodded and drew his wand, waving it synchronous with Slughorn's in broad sweeping motions as the room righted itself to a pre-disastrous state.

"It's good to see you again, Albus," Slughorn said sincerely as he shook the Headmaster's offered left hand, "but what brings you by? Down on your luck and looking for a place to hide? Or, has your old age finally started to catch up with you?" Slughorn asked seriously with a glance at his right hand.

"I daresay it has somewhat, Horace – I am not the spring chicken I once was. I have come to offer you a respite from the life of an outlaw, in fact. But first, let me introduce a guest who happened to be with me tonight. Horace Slughorn, meet Harry Potter. Harry, Professor Horace Slughorn." Slughorn's eyes widened and a delirious smile spread on his face at the mention of Harry, who he had yet to sight.

_Oh, very clever Albus. Horace, after all, absolutely couldn't resist the temptation to add the great Harry Potter to his collection. He'd be the prize piece, in fact, replacing even those Quidditch stars._ Tom seemed to know quite exactly why Harry was invited for this trip.

"That's former professor, Harry my boy. Would you like some tea?" Horace conjured up three cups at Harry's nod and gave them to his guests. "Well, I must say that it is certainly an honor - I'd hoped, someday, to be able to meet you. I knew your parents ever so well, of course; particularly your mother, bless her soul." He vigorously shook Harry's hand and seemed to never want to stop. Harry extricated his hand after a few moments and smiled at the Potions Master.

"The pleasure's all mine, sir. I really thought that faked destruction was real; I'm glad you're all right." Harry said. And it was true, after a fashion. Without Tom, he certainly would have.

"Ah yes, well I've been in hiding for a year now, and I've prepared a few death scenes to put into action at a moment's notice. I've been moving from house to house - this one's owned by a pair of muggles vacationing in the Canary Islands for two weeks - on the run, you know, from You-Know-Who." Tom thought this information _very_ interesting indeed, and both he and Harry grabbed at explanations for why the Dark Lord would be after Slughorn.

"Is he coming after you, sir?" Harry questioned innocently. His progressing Occlumency was really helping him imitate innocence, among other things, and was quite handy at lying.

"Coming after me, particularly, no...no reason at all for that to happen," Tom directed Harry's attention to the sly half-glance that Horace gave Albus before continuing, "never liked to get mixed up with that sort, don't you know? No...but, as one of the premier Potions Masters in England, I'm bound to be a target, aren't I?" Harry, staring in his eyes, realized he was lying. Truthfully, Harry knew just how Horace Slughorn was mixed up with Tom Riddle - the old man was likely one of the few who remembered Tom Riddle back when he was just a brilliant student - but something in Slughorn's eyes indicated to Harry that his words rang false. Harry gave Slughorn a noncommittal "Hmmm" as Tom explained what had happened.

_Ah, that was Legilimency, Harry. A well-Occluded mind, as yours is beginning to become, can begin to use an opponent's eyes to pick up lies, and later surface thoughts. It means that you are doing well._

"Of course, Horace. Lord Voldemort would love nothing more than to you're your considerable talents to coercion, torture, and murder. And that, Horace, is precisely why I am offering to you the sanctuary of Hogwarts castle. Nowhere is safer than from the influence of Lord Voldemort." Albus interjected. Tom seemed to chuckle about this, saying, _Well, I wouldn't go that far, Albus. Voldemort does indeed fear you - you are a powerful wizard, his only competition in that aspect, really, in addition to being exceedingly clever enough to figure out what he was up to. However, a concerted attack plan on the castle is not something I'd put past Voldemort._ Tom certainly respected Albus, and Harry caught a feeling of what may have been glee at someone having figured out his old persona's game. While Voldemort certainly didn't appreciate competition, it seemed that Tom liked pitting the cleverness of his past self against others. Harry could only hope that Voldemort didn't actually want to storm Hogwarts, but Tom was right: if enough variables swung to stack the deck in his favor, Voldemort would attack Hogwarts to get to Dumbledore and Harry.

"Now Albus, I know that Tom always respected you and your power. But the temptation might be too great - you'd leave him no choice. No, I rather think that I am safer on my own here. My refusal of your offer still stands, Albus, and I'd thank you to not manipulate me to get what you want." _Might as well ask him to stop breathing_, Tom added. With a mental smack to the back of his head, Tom stopped; he did have a point, however - Albus very much liked to control situations.

"Very well, Horace. Before Harry and I depart, may I use your restroom? That tea does seem to fly right through my old system." Horace nodded and directed him down the hall. Harry started examining various wizarding photographs that Slughorn had set upon the mantle. _Thanks for everything Sluggy - Gwenog Jones, Holyhead Harpies_._To a dear friend and mentor - Damocles Belby_.

"Are these all from former students?" Harry asked, knowing quite well that they were undoubtedly Slug Club members.

"Oh yes, Harry. This one's from Gwenog Jones of the Harpies - gives me free tickets any time I like, the dear girl. And of course Damocles - he has a nephew at Hogwarts now, I hear, invented the Wolfsbane; only a nudge in the right direction from me and his career certainly shot right up. He's a fine Potions Master now, we've collaborated a bit. Owner of Honeydukes Ambrosius Flume over here, Harry. I set him up with an interview with old Ciceron Harkiss, who I'd known for years, and he's sent me a barrel of chocolates every Christmas." Tom, seeing an opening on Horace, urged Harry.

"But how do they send you things, if you're in hiding? I mean, surely you've charmed the owls to not be able to locate you..." Harry began.

"Oh, of course. Well, They all sent those things before I went into hiding. Of course." Horace did look slightly reminiscent at this.

"Wow, that must've been tough, to give up all of that for a life on the run. So, um, Professor, I mean Mister Slughorn, can you tell me about my mum?" Harry asked. Tom knew it was a good topic, but Harry earnestly wanted to know about his parents.

"Lily? Wonderful girl. Vivacious and charming young witch. A brilliant student, too, one of my favorites, though of course teachers should never really have favorites." Horace gave Harry a broad wink at this, as though intimating that Harry would be surely among Horace's favorites if he were still teaching. Which, he was quite certain, he would be. Imagine my surprise when she was a Muggle-born!" Harry's mouth hardened at this, and he interrupted.

"Well I don't think that makes much difference. One of my best friends is a Muggle-born, and she's the brightest in the year by far!" _At least until I show up with all of Tom's knowledge...hmmm, that may be problematic._ Harry considered.

"Oh, of course, Harry. I didn't mean to imply that there was any sort of natural inequality. It's just that children of wizarding parents get a bit of a head start and sometimes are a little better adjusted to the material than Muggle-borns. Take your father, for example. Who, I am sure you have heard, you are a spitting image for! Truly, Harry, if you were a prankster like your father, it wouldn't be at all difficult to convince everyone that you were the ghost of James! But enough of that! As I was saying, I don't believe that Minerva was able to teach him a new trick until his fourth year - brilliant Transfiguration student. Would've been a Master candidate for certain, maybe after Minerva's job! But your mother, Harry, she came to Hogwarts and, quick as you please, just picked up the material. Stayed far ahead of her peers throughout school. Oh, I do miss dear Lily, so." Horace started tearing a little, and dabbed his eyes with a handkerchief he pulled out.

"Well, sir, I'm sorry to hear that you won't be coming to Hogwarts, then." Harry began, but Horace interrupted.

"Well, Harry, much as I'd love to teach – though these old bones don't get around like they used to! – Working with Albus would be virtually declaring my alliance with the Order of the Phoenix!" Harry wondered just how Slughorn knew of the "secret" Order's existence if he hadn't been at all involved, but kept that to himself.

"Really? Because most of the teachers certainly aren't. And none of them have ever gotten hurt, either. If you don't count Quirell, but he was possessed by Voldemort and I kinda was responsible for his death. And Umbridge, too…but I was kinda responsible for that too. Plus she insulted the centaurs to their faces while surrounded by them. Anyway, I'd have loved to hear more about my mother, and I'm certain you'd be a brilliant instructor. And, Hogwarts is safe, after all. Voldemort's tried nearly every year to have some plot to get me, and between Dumbledore and I, he's not ever met with much success. With Dumbledore around, Hogwarts is pretty much the most secure place outside of a Gringott's high security vault." Horace seemed to consider this a moment. Harry didn't really like that Slughorn seemed to be after his fame, but Tom realized, and told him, that if he was going to be burdened with the fame in either case, he'd might as well use it to his advantage when possible.

Albus strode out of the bathroom, _With impeccable timing that I'm sure had nothing to do with a listening charm_, Tom wryly interjected, and smiled brightly at Harry.

"Well, Harry, let's head off to our next destination, then. Horace, I'm sorry that I won't be seeing you this term and to have bothered you, but I do wish you the best." He grabbed Harry's arm before Horace spoke up.

"Now, Albus, let's not be too hasty. After all, I have heard of the legendary safety of Hogwarts," he passed what he must have thought was a sly wink at Harry, "Alright, alright, I'll come back." Albus glanced at Harry with a knowing smile.

"But I'll want a raise - I've spent years since the '70's doing valuable Potions research and collaborations, not to imagine the rate of inflation since then. Dirk Cresswell over in the Goblin Liason Office – a job I set him up with an interview with, by the way – was just telling me about it in a lovely letter I received not too long ago. Now that I'm coming back out of retirement, I just might have to write to Dirk to see how well he's faring…" Albus chuckled and agreed, and showed Harry out the door. Walking along the path back to the town square, Harry spoke up.

"Rather sly of you, Headmaster, using my celebrity and his affection for my mother to recruit him." While not mad, Harry certainly didn't appreciate it.

"You just happened to be along, Harry, and this was a necessary errand. He is an excellent professor and he certainly _may_ be correct about Voldemort wanting him. You know of the delicate position that Severus enjoys." It was a smooth line, but Harry knew that was not why Voldemort wanted Slughorn. Slughorn was the only man on this Earth who Voldemort had intimated his desire to create seven Horcruxes, and if Albus knew how many Horcruxes Voldemort made, he might begin inroads to their destruction. Tom rationalized that, while Albus may just have needed a Potions Master - had something happened to Snape? - that it was more likely that he suspected this information and knew it was likely that Slughorn knew something. Tom was once his favorite student, just as Lily Evans was, and was closer to him than any other member of the staff. Of course, Tom had manipulated the stuffing out of him just as he had every staff member other than Dumbledore himself, but he still respected the Potions Master.

"However," Dumbledore continued, "I will say that Horace used to make collections of prized students, and I suspect that he will make inroads to include you in that collection. You would be the crown jewel, I suspect. The 'Boy-Who-Lived', and now, I hear, 'the Chosen One'." Harry rolled his eyes and laughed at this proclamation, which merely echoed his own suspicions of Slughorn's intents. He was quite the most Slytherin person without evil intent that Harry had ever heard of – though Tom knew a good many, of course.

"I got that feeling from him, Professor. I know that he only sees my fame, and is thinking of how it can benefit him, but he still seems nice. It's good to have my name work for me, instead of having people like Snape - Professor Snape, I know - only hate me for it." A fleeting thought about Snape gave rise to the notion that perhaps Tom's influence, which had saved him from scowling at a man who only saw a celebrity, would put an interesting spin on Severus Snape's attitude too.

"Horace is a good man and an excellent teacher, Harry. O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. results and enrollment dropped significantly when he left. But he is certainly a man who grants favors and remembers them, and he does enjoy a good bit of creature comfort. But come, we must get you to the Burrow, where I am sure Molly will have an entirely too large of a meal prepared for you to devour." Dumbledore held out his left arm again - reminding Harry that he needed to ask what in the world _happened_ to his right hand - and 'popped' away once Harry grabbed it.

They reappeared next to the wooden sign proclaiming the residence "the Burrow", and Harry wondered why they appeared so far from the house itself. Tom's answer was that the wards likely would either prevent Apparition altogether or, more likely, set off an alarm if anyone Apparated within the perimeter of the wards. A silent revealing spell while he grasped his wand showed Harry that Tom was indeed correct, and a rainbow shell surrounded the Weasleys' home; it appeared that they were quite well protected indeed, and Harry thought that between Bill, a curse-breaker and warding expert for Gringotts, and Dumbledore, who was in charge of the Hogwarts wards, the house no doubt had every available protection placed upon it.

"Now, Harry, we have a few items of a personal nature to attend to, so why don't we take care of that before we intrude upon Molly's legendary hospitality." Albus began pleasantly as he and Harry slowly ventured toward the Burrow.

"Alright. First, what happened to your right hand?" Albus looked at his hand and sighed, "Oh, you noticed that, did you? Well, that, I am afraid, is quite the thrilling tale that would take some time for a proper telling. I will share with you that story when we can find that time together, Harry." Harry nodded. As Albus looked at his hand, he noticed a crude gold ring set with a cracked black stone. An eerily _familiar_ gold ring and black stone, had it been whole. Tom had turned white as a ghost when he realized what it was, and the danger of such an item. Tom also knew why Albus' hand was blackened and burned. Albus had gone after the Horcruxes – or at least one Horcrux. And that curse…maybe Tom's information was faulty. Surely it wasn't quickly making its way to rot Dumbledore's heart as it should have been – surely Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of the age, had found a way to stop the dreadful curse whose effects Tom knew so well, effects that caused him to snicker when he'd read. Harry forced his gaze away from the ring and tuned back into Albus, who had started to speak a moment before.

"-Sirius' will. He left you everything, Harry. So, this means that you add a modest amount of gold to your bank account and take ownership of all his material possessions. Including Headquarters. I must ask your intentions for that place." Albus continued. Harry considered. With Grimmauld Place being the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry couldn't exactly sell it, no matter how much Sirius hated the place; indeed, it seems that the only option Harry could think of that Sirius would have approved of was to turn the place on its head and live there.

"I'll keep Grimmauld Place, sir, but I want to clean it up. I think Sirius would have wanted that. And of course, you're welcome to have Order meetings there."

"That's very generous, Harry, thank you. However, we have temporarily vacated the premises upon Sirius' death. You see, with ancient wizarding households, there are often charms to prevent ownership from passing to a non-blood relative." Harry grinned; if those charms existed, he was pretty certain that they'd be all over the Black family mansion. "Without knowing whether or not you are the true owner, we may be walking into a trap laid by Bellatrix Lestrange." Harry showed little reaction to the name, though he still hated her. He and Tom had spoken many times of the woman, and Harry was even able to feel some pity for her, just like he did for young Voldemort.

"Fortunately, there is a simple test to determine ownership. Kreacher!" Dumbledore called. With a BANG!, Kreacher materialized with an evil sneer on his face. Harry's eyes narrowed at the sight of the traitorous little elf. Tom knew exactly what Voldemort would have done to such a creature, and had to chastise Harry when he came up with a similar idea.

"Kreacher won't, won't, WON'T! Kreacher is Mistress Cissy's elf now. Blood traitorous filth spewing muggle-spawn!" Kreacher lay on the ground banging his fists and feet in a temper tantrum still spewing vile insults. Albus prompted, "Give him a command, Harry."

"Kreacher, don't move and shut your insolent mouth." Kreacher lay exactly in the position, with one arm and leg each up in the air, and glared maliciously at Harry.

"Well, that answers that question. It seems that the house and its elf have indeed passed to you. Congratulations." Harry didn't feel that there was much to be excited about, as inheriting a house in disrepair and an insolent evil house elf were not apt to bring him much joy or satisfaction. Tom, however, assured him that both could be very useful. Harry could see how Tom managed to make the best of being torn from his body and left as a spirit with no resources with his attitude; Tom was driven like Harry had never been, and entirely willing to seize unexpected resources and creatively use them. He had certainly done it when he'd stumbled upon the Founders' belongings before making them into Horcruxes.

"If you don't mind my saying, Harry, I think that you're taking all of the events since the Ministry rather well. I believe that Sirius would have been astonishingly proud of you." Harry would likely have broken down without having talked with Tom about this before, but he was able to carry on and fondly remember his godfather.

"Sirius certainly wouldn't have wanted me to mope around and carry on about his death, or crack up and never get over it. I have to live every day like it'll be my last because, for him, it was. But when that day comes, I'll be sure that no Death Eater around me lives to brag about how I went down; and now I just have to make sure I can live up to that statement." Harry finished coldly.

"Spoken like the true son of James and Lily Potter and most assuredly the beloved godson of Sirius Black. And now, on a regrettably related subject, I understand you have been taking the _Daily Prophet_?" Harry nodded affirmatively, and Dumbledore continued, "Then I'm sure you've heard the flood of information about your battle with the Ministry."

"Yeah, funny how they got it in one, eh?" Dumbledore smiled, but added, "Yes indeed. But it is important to note that they only _think_ you are 'the Chosen One' and only two people here know the true wording of the Prophecy. You have kept it to yourself?"

"Yes sir, but I was wondering if I could possibly tell Hermione and Ron about it." Harry was determined to keep his friends clued in on everything – except the presence of a psycho in his head that even he still sometimes wondered whether wasn't just him being crazy – because he did not want to lose his dear friends.

"I think that a wonderful idea, Harry, and one I was going to recommend myself. To hide this from them would do them a great disservice. On a related note, it is my wish for you to take private lessons with me this year." Harry, and Tom, gasped at this unprecedented development.

"Private – with you? Lessons?" Harry said stupidly. Tom applauded in his head for that judicious use of articulation.

"Indeed, Harry. I think it time I take a more active role in your education."

"What will I be learning, sir?" Tom ran through the plethora of options, and only stopped when he started listing off Dumbledore's many languages and Harry yelled at him.

"A little of this, a little of that…maybe a few other tricks." Harry was quite interested in learning what "tricks" the ancient sorcerer had up his sleeve.

"Now, Harry, I must tell you two more things before we part. Firstly, I wish for you to carry your Invisibility Cloak with you at all times henceforth. Even at Hogwarts, even at night; it is best to be prepared," Harry wondered just what Dumbledore expected him to prepare for, but far too many sinister ideas popped into his head to continue that line of thinking, "And, secondly. The Burrow has been afforded the very best security that the Ministry of Magic and myself can offer. Some of these precautions are rather inconvenient for Arthur and Molly – such as having their post delivered, sorted, and screened at the Ministry – but they tolerate them without complaint because they only care the utmost for your safety. It would not be kind to impose on such hospitality as has been offered by sneaking away; the precautions are for your own protection from the very real threats you have experienced." Albus said sternly.

"Alright, that's no problem, I wouldn't do that to the Weasleys. But I have one request, sir. I need to be prepared for subsequent Death Eater attacks and, seeing as how adult wizards are present, I know that my usage of magic cannot be detected. I would like for some of the Order members, maybe Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, Mad-Eye, those kinds of members, to give me some dueling practice. Just to keep me in shape over the summer. Draco Malfoy, for instance, always brags about the private tutoring he receives every summer while 'those Mudbloods' are forced to put away their wands. Personally, I find it the worst sort of Pureblood legislation." Albus peered at him curiously, and Harry knew exactly why. Only one other student, at least that Harry knew of, had ever talked to Professor Dumbledore, then as Deputy Headmaster, about this piece of "Pureblood legislation" and how it would detriment the magical growth of the adolescent orphan. He had not batted an eye when he denied Tom Riddle's request.

"Alright, Harry…perhaps we can give this a bit of a trial run. But no using your wand at any other time; you know how dangerous another trial could be for you." Harry had to use every bit of his Occlumency to stop the grin from hitting his face at Dumbledore's wording.

"Absolutely, sir, thank you."

"Well, Harry, let us not deprive Molly Weasley of your anxious stomach any longer."

"Go on ahead for just a moment, sir. I need to have a little chat with my new elf." Albus nodded, though his face was worried, and stepped inside the back door; Harry knew that he'd be eavesdropping in case of attack. Truthfully, Tom would do the same thing in his place, and Harry was beginning to see the wisdom in such behavior.

"Kreacher, come here." Harry called in a cold voice. It was time, Tom decided, to deliver exactly what Kreacher didn't expect from Harry - a proper pureblood. Kreacher came, still not speaking from Harry's earlier command.

"Look at me, Kreacher. You are no longer the servant of an empty house. Do you understand me? I will not have you crawling around like an embarrassing maggot while you are my elf. And that wretched rag you wear! Do not mistake me for freeing you - I am transfiguring your same rags into something more befitting my servant." With a few waves of his wand, Harry cleaned Kreacher's filthy rag and transfigured it into a collared robe. Tom knew that house-elves who were favored would wear their owner's crest, but Kreacher was certainly not favored.

"Master did not put a crest on Kreacher's outfit?" Kreacher asked in the most respectful tone Harry had ever heard from the vile thing. Apparently he was buying Harry's act hook, line, and sinker; Harry decided it was time to push the envelope.

"No, Kreacher, for you have not yet convinced me of your competence at any task set to you." To house elves, this was a terrible insult, Tom knew. It sounded as though it was the type of thing to send Dobby into tears and self-punishments. Kreacher looked as though he was getting ready to punish himself.

"Cease that immediately!" Harry called quickly, "Do you think I want a cripple elf, or your filthy blood on my robes? Do not presume that, elf! You are mine, and until such time as I feel you deserve it, you shall not presume to assign your own punishments. Now get back to my new house and clean it so that I may entertain proper guests. You may be used to living in squalor, but I am a Potter, and I expect that house to be representative of such a fine line." Harry called out in a drawl, pretending to be Draco Malfoy boasting of his wonderful family. Truthfully he was having a bit of fun at fooling the elf.

"Master is a Potter? But they is related to the Blacks!" Kreacher started tearing up and got on his knees, "Oh, forgive me, Master, I knew not that Master was such a fine, strong wizard from the Black family. Kreacher is so sorry for the way stupid Kreacher behaved. Kreacher did not know!" Kreacher's tears threatened to fall, but he was not quite as emotional as Dobby always was.

"You are forgiven this time, Kreacher. And I expect quite a lot more respect from you in the future. Blood purity is important, yes," Harry almost gagged while he said that, "But is not loyalty to one's family also important? For it was cousin Bellatrix who killed Master Sirius; Sirius, despite any quarrel, did not seek Bella's death. She has betrayed the family, and I intend to blast her off the family tree. Also, you are to treat all of my friends and any guests I have in the same manner you treat me, unless a command they give is questionable, and then you may ask for my direction. For now, Kreacher, return to Grimmauld Place – I expect it to be immaculate when I choose to inspect it." Kreacher bowed deeply and disappeared with a much softer noise than he'd made upon his arrival, and Harry promptly broke out in a fit of laughter. Tears in his eyes, he found Professor Dumbledore with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk beckon him inside.

"What did you think, sir? Do I make a fine young pureblood scion?" Harry puffed out his chest in a rather Napoleonic pose.

"The epitome of class, Harry. For a moment you had me worried, you know."

"I know, sir, but I'd rather have a willing house elf than one who fights me at every turn and does nothing I ask – or willingly betrays me, as Kreacher did. I just thought it easier to use my name, which is pureblood. I didn't know the Potters were related to the Blacks, though." Harry said.

"Yes, I believe Sirius mentioned that the Blacks had intermarried with many of the pureblood wizarding families. Wizarding Britain is a rather small world, you'll find, and purebloods, particularly purebloods intent on maintaining their purity and not inbreeding, often have rather few choices on marriage partners." Harry was rather dismayed to realize who all this made him related to: Bellatrix, Narcissa, even, ugh, Draco; though knowing that Sirius was also a cousin brought a smile to his face. That and questioning just how inbred the Malfoy line must be.

Before they'd left the washroom, a voice Harry recognized as Mrs. Weasley's called out, "Who's there? Don't take another step!"

"It is I, Dumbledore, bearing Harry Potter." Mrs. Weasley ran out from the kitchen, where she must have been, and called out, "Dear me, Albus, you gave me such a fright! You said to expect you rather later than this!" Mrs. Weasley, in an old grey robe and a stained apron, came out wielding a rolling pin and her wand, and led them through the door to the dining room that contained quite a few familiar faces.

"Well, our visit took less time than I expected," he shot Harry a smile, "Is there room for two more here?" The room had to have been magically enlarged since Harry last visited, for there was no way that the table could have fit in the room's previous dimensions. A massive spread filled the table and Harry sat down between Ron and Fred – maybe George – who both clapped him on the back as greetings were shouted all around. It seemed to be just between missions for the Order, and many were spending the time catching up here at the Weasleys' table.

At the head of the table, Professor Dumbledore took the empty seat – Mr. Weasley must have been working late – and started chatting amicably with Mrs. Weasley. Hermione, seated across from Ron, shot glances at Harry once every few seconds, it seemed. Ginny beside her, across from Harry, smiled warmly at him. Down the table, Harry spotted Bill in his manly ponytail and sporting a dragon fang earring, as always. Next to him – _very_ closely next to him, in fact – was a stunningly pretty blonde who seemed to light up the sky with her smile and tinkling laugh; Harry violently cleared his mind and shook off the allure of the Veela. Fleur and Bill Weasley? What was Fleur doing in Britain? Harry had not given much thought to the French part-Veela since the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but it was good to see her again, with or without her charm's influence. On the opposite side of the table sat Remus Lupin, who looked worse than ever – sleep deprived, greyer, and roughshod, an empty seat, and then Tonks on the end, across from an empty seat next to Fleur. Harry waved at Lupin and Tonks after greeting Fleur with a smile; neither Lupin nor Tonks seemed particularly responsive to his waves. Harry realized with a jolt that they were the two besides him that were closest to Sirius. Tonks was his cousin – a more direct cousin than Harry. Harry felt sure that they were taking this worse than he was – Lupin was all alone, after all; last of the legendary Marauders. But why would Lupin and Tonks be sitting separately? Tonks was isolated from the entire table by either a seat or the table itself. She seemed to be merely poking at her food; in fact, Harry noticed that not even her hair, normally a bubble-gum pink or neon orange, was bright. It was a rather mousy brown color that Harry thought was likely natural. Her face, oftentimes shifting into an animal snout for the enjoyment of others, was its usual pretty heart shape. Harry noticed he was staring when she glanced up and looked him in the eyes.

_So lonely without him. He's right there…_

The thoughts came unbidden into his mind so clearly and suddenly that Harry fell back out of his seat onto the floor. Fred grabbed his hand with a laugh and pulled him back to the table. Harry, not wanting to invade the minds of his friends, kept his gaze firmly on the delicious baked chicken and vegetables that Mrs. Weasley had prepared. After a long supper of jokes, boisterous laughter, and smiles from everyone, it seemed, except Remus and Tonks, it was finally over and several people, including Harry, were in the kitchen helping Mrs. Weasley with the dishes. With Tonks, Bill, and Fleur all present – Harry didn't want to turn down a potential dueling partner just because a few years ago she hadn't been too fancy, after all – he brought up the subject of Dumbledore's agreement. Mrs. Weasley was immediately against the idea.

"Oh no, Harry, don't be foolish. We mustn't violate the law! With Arthur's new promotion, we couldn't be seen flouting it like that. No, that is a terrible idea." She said, turning back to the dishes as though the discussion ended. Tonks rolled her eyes playfully and for just a moment Harry caught a glimpse of the old carefree, vivacious auror he'd known before; he decided that he would bring that auror back kicking and screaming if need be.

"Oh come on, Mum. You-Know-Who's been after Harry for ages now, and I think it's pretty awesome that he got Dumbledore to agree to supervised use of magic. I'd love to help you out, Harry; I'm pretty busy at work, but we should be able to keep you pretty busy if you get enough of the Order in on this." Bill interjected.

"Yeah, I'll let Shack know about it, Kingsley, you know, and I'm sure he'd help you out. A Master Auror – how's that for a training partner, kid?" Harry thanked her graciously and they finished up washing the dishes. As Tonks made to leave – notably without speaking to Lupin; hadn't they always got along well before? – Harry made sure to give her a hug and let her know again how much he appreciated her help. She looked a bit oddly at him when he first initiated the hug – he wasn't known for that sort of thing, after all – but tousled his hair and left with a bit of a grin. When he turned around, he found himself full of French part-Veela, who enveloped him in a tight hug and kissed both of his cheeks.

"'Arry Potter, eet is so good to see you again, non? But _Merci_, 'ow you have grown! My sister, Gabrielle, she asks about you constantly, 'Arry. She has a bit of a crush on ze Boy-'Oo-Lived, I zink. Of course, you are her savior, non?" Harry was constantly using his Occlumency to great effect – living with Fleur might be very useful for practice.

"That's great Fleur, I forgot to mention how great it was to see you again. I'm glad to hear that Gabrielle's doing so well, tell her I said, '_Bonjour_'." Fleur's laugh tinkled again as he continued, "And thanks again for volunteering to duel some with me, I think it'll be a good time to catch up."

"Oh, 'Arry, you do not have to invite me, I know that I am not ze best at dueling, and you really wanted 'zat Tonks and my Bill." So Harry had guessed right about her and Bill. Looking into her eyes as she said this, he almost heard a voice.

_No one really wants me around here, Harry, though it was nice of you to offer._ Harry thought that her thoughts had a decidedly French feel to them, as though he were hearing French and just understood it. But he was confused – was she having problems with Bill?

"Oh nonsense, Fleur! I think it'll be great training for both of us, then. It might be nice to actually survive more than one curse before landing on my backside as I'm sure will happen when I'm fighting aurors, though I'm betting you're a lot better than you give yourself credit for." She seemed to brighten the room, literally, as she erupted into a smile. Harry seemed to have cleared her out of her little funk.

"Oh, 'Arry, you are too kind. I would love to 'elp you, of course!" She turned around and nearly skipped out of the room, leaving Harry in blissful silence for the first time all night. This, of course, was an invitation for Tom to disrupt it.

_There seem to be quite a few problems in the Order, Harry, and I suggest we investigate them thoroughly. After all, Fleur, with the French connections she undoubtedly has, could be a useful ally, and it would be in the Order's best interests to discover just what has her so upset. And Tonks and Lupin, though I think that may just be a friendly ear like I was to you – it seems to be very effective to just scream away grief. _Tom certainly was right about how it had affected him – he'd nearly turned Dark! Well, not really, but he'd wanted to put the Cruciatus on Bellatrix even after he attempted and failed at the Ministry.

Harry walked out of the kitchen to find Lupin sitting a bit away from the Weasley children, who were listening to the twins talk about their new shop in Diagon Alley. Harry sat down next to him, and realized he was cradling a Firewhiskey and staring at the liquid in the glass. Tom had some memories of that substance. Harry realized that Remus was probably remembering all the times he'd drank with Sirius and his dad.

"So, how've you been, Professor?" _Stupid question, Harry, how would you feel if Ron just kicked it? _ He mentally berated himself. Lupin smiled sadly and looked Harry in the eye. Harry almost wanted to look away, but his curiosity seemed to control the muscles in his neck.

"I'm holding up, Harry. It's not been a good time for me, with the upcoming moon just a week away now." _Lies._ One image and one emotion flashed in his mind: _Tonks_ and agonizing heartbreak.

"Tonks?" He blurted out, and then his eyes widened with shock and he covered his mouth with his hand. Lupin looked bewildered.

"Wh-Dora?" He looked around, but didn't find her. Harry lowered her voice and continued, thinking on his feet.

"No, she's not here. I just…noticed that you two didn't speak at all tonight, and usually you're at least friendly. And I was just hoping that you two weren't fighting or anything, or laying blame about Sirius' death. Because I loved Sirius and I know him. Well, maybe not as well as you, but…He loved the both of you, and he wouldn't have wanted you two to fight over anything related to his death. I know how hard it must be for both of you, but its easier to get it over with together than apart." Harry just soldiered on despite Lupin's open-mouthed shocked look, and then finished. He was almost certain that he'd hit the nail on the head with this one, and wanted to fix the rift between his friends.

"Uh…No, Harry, that's not it at all. We know Sirius went out exactly the way he wanted to – fighting his evil cousin, which was a hobby of his – and…no, that isn't why we aren't speaking. We just had a bit of a disagreement." At Harry's insistent look, he continued, "Well…it's silly, really. Dora just had a bit of a silly crush on me, and well, you know."

"No, I don't have any idea, really, what is the problem with having a pretty, smart, talented girl crushing on you?" Harry raised his eyebrow.

"Well, Harry, that's exactly it – she's just a girl! Good heavens, I could nearly be her father!" Harry stared incredulously and just laughed.

"Be her father? Have you checked your math right? Just because you'd barely started puberty at the time doesn't mean you could be her father!" Harry continued laughing.

"Now Harry, I'm serious," Harry interrupted with, "No, you're Remus." Remus stopped suddenly for a full two seconds, burst into a wide grin for the first time all night, and began laughing softly. This laughing got progressively louder until Remus had tears running down his face; all of the commotion coming from the other side of the room stopped when the werewolf, who they hadn't seen laugh since summer began, positively crack up in hysterics. When his bout was nearing completion, he cackled out,

"I'm sorry, Harry. But Sirius used to make that damned joke CONSTANTLY. Oh, how it used to annoy your father and I. Oh good heavens! And you know what? That's the first time the bloody joke's ever made me laugh! Oh, I hope Sirius had been flirting with some dead blonde wherever he's at and missed it, because when I kick it, the first thing he'll say is, 'You finally laughed at a serious/Sirius joke!'" Harry, too, smiled and laughed at the mental picture. No one else seemed to have quite gotten it, except perhaps Ginny who smiled sweetly. The twins continued their story and Harry's "audience" became just Lupin again.

"As I was saying, Harry, there is quite a substantial age difference between Dora and I, and there could never be anything between us." Harry's passive legilimency screamed _lies_ to him, and Tom's influence kicked in.

"Oh, well then you won't mind if I go after her then." For just a moment, in Lupin's eyes, Harry got the picture of a wolf – no, a werewolf – tearing him limb from limb. It disappeared and Lupin grew even more sad and withdrawn.

"Oh…well, no, Harry. I guess Sirius always used to go after older women, too…" Lupin seemed about ready to get up and leave, so Harry grabbed his arm grinned.

"I was kidding, Remus. Totally kidding. But I could tell from your reaction – I thought you might turn into a werewolf early and gobble me up – that you were definitely NOT okay with the idea. So, you like her. She's crushing on you. Go out with her." Harry delineated.

"Harry, its definitely not that simple –"

"Remus, it is that simple. IF you give the relationship a try, and your…senior citizenship," Remus raised an amused eyebrow, "gets in the way, then you gave it a try, had fun, and can continue on as friends. If it DOES work out, then you were being stupid." Remus looked into Lily's eyes – _When did he become the ghost of his mother?_ – the thought tore through Harry's mind causing him to grin and finally agreed that the argument was good.

"But, really, Harry, I'm quite poor, as you know –"

"Then I'll sign over my Gringotts account."

"And…well, I'm a dangerous creature, after all…"

"And I'll brew Wolfsbane for you every month."

"I just can't get one over on you, can I?" Remus smiled at the boy.

"No, because you know you're just being stupid. Does Tonks know that you're an old, poor werewolf with a lot of self-confidence issues?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, of course. I don't have self –"

"And yet she still likes you? Well, she sounds crazy to me, but I guess you can go ahead and steal her out from under me; make it quick, though." Remus smirked at that most definitely _James_ comment and nodded.

"Fine, I shall…attempt to make amends with Nymphadora. And when did so much of your parents' personality get passed on to you, Harry?" Harry smirked at the compliment.

"I've done a bit of growing up this summer. Speaking of, Dumbledore agreed that I can duel with skilled members of the Order this summer regardless of bogus Ministry legislation, so dear _Dora_ and I will kick your butt as your first date. Then when you make up and get all lovey-dovey, you two can team up for another helping of defeat at my wand." Harry said while grinning. He wasn't quite serious – he was fairly certain he get stomped by the two adults, but it was only harmless boasting; he ignored the fact that he'd never done it before.

"You'd better call her Tonks before she kills you, and you're on. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to run away with my tail between my legs to Dora's apartment." He grabbed Harry in a tight hug and sincerely said, "Thank you so much, Harry. For everything. Really." With one last smile, he clasped Harry's shoulder, said his goodbyes to the others, and Disapparated with a light 'crack'. Congratulating himself on a night well spent, he cheerfully climbed the stairs up to Fred and George's old room – they'd been sleeping in the shop's upstairs, but failed to notice two people following him.

"Alright, Harry, you can stop the act." Spinning around whipping his wand out, he let out a long breath when he realized it was just Ron and Hermione. He slid his wand back under his left sleeve and smiled at his two best friends – friends who'd turned suddenly pale at the end of his wand.

"Gosh, you two nearly scared me senseless! Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry, mate…er, when'd you start doing that?" Ron asked, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Oh…guess I got into the habit this summer. Kinda wears on you, thinking the next time you spin around it'll be Voldemort and his Merry Men coming to surprise you." He said jokingly with a grin. He thought back to how he'd have never joked about that in anything but a dark, sarcastic manner before now. When he'd been home alone, practicing magic and training hard constantly, he'd had little chance to really embrace his lighter perspective on life – well, besides joking with Petunia about poltergeists that were actually invisible Harry's. Perhaps Voldemort's dark presence had stunted his personality more than he'd believed; he certainly thought he was a lot more fun to hang around, now.

"Harry, come sit. Now, really, how've you been holding up?" Hermione gently led him to a chair and sat on the desk near him, Ron a few feet away.

"Really, Hermione, I've been doing really well. I mean, of course, it was hard at first, but I've talked it out and thought about it. It's tragic, of course, but it happened, and nothing can change that, and Sirius wouldn't have wanted anyone to mope around no matter how it happened. So, I think I need to make the best of the time I have here, and make him proud of me when I see him again." Harry said sincerely. Hermione considered this, teared up, and grabbing him violently in a hug and buried her face in his shoulder. With a worried look to Ron, who shrugged cluelessly, Harry just patted her back gently.

"Oh Harry! We were so worried about you! And you wrote back letters and sounded okay but I didn't know for sure and I thought for sure you wouldn't be okay and I felt so guilty that I didn't try harder and I thought for sure that you'd be miserable here and it'd be all my fault and I'm so glad you're okay!" She continued her backbreaking embrace, so he decided to hug her tightly too.

"It's okay, Hermione. I'm glad you're alright too, I was pretty worried about that curse you took back in the Ministry. And you had every right to be worried about me, I'm not so sure why I'm alright, I just really do feel okay." She sniffed a few times and looked at him with a watery smile, and wiped her eyes.

"Oh, I was being so silly. I was just worried how you were taking everything, and then the awful _Prophet_ article…" Ron seemed to grow nervous, but Harry smiled and casually itched his back as he performed a wandless silencing charm all around the room; it wasn't perfect, but he didn't expect intruders.

"Well, the _Prophet_ has it just about right, I reckon, so why get upset?" His friends' faces dropped in disbelief.

"What are you talking about, Harry…that Prophecy got smashed and no one heard it, remember?" Hermione began slowly.

"Yeah, but Professor Dumbledore was the one who heard it to begin with, so he took me into his office and showed it to me. It says that I'm the only one who can kill Voldemort." Ron looked flabbergasted and Hermione looked like she rather didn't know what to do, so she stood chewing her lip anxiously. Ron summed it up nicely with a, "Bugger!" Causing Harry to smile and chuckle.

"Haha, yeah, well, I thought that too. It's not like its unexpected, though. I mean, really, he's been coming after me every year since school started, I rather expect he wouldn't stop suddenly until he gets me, you know? So really, nothing's changed except I know it for certain." Glancing at Hermione, Harry was certain she was going to crush more of his vertebrae until she slowly nodded and smiled, clearly holding back tears.

"Well you'll just have to get it over with quickly and train up to get him, then, Harry. We have N.E.W.T.s to study for soon. But since we have no summer homework…I know there are a few good defensive books that we can owl order from Flourish and Blotts, so I'll go ahead and get them and we can start going through them together to look for useful spells. And once we get to school we'll both be able to help you train up some, you know. I'll just go and fetch and fill out that order form I left in Ginny's room…I had a few other books I wanted too…" She departed and left Ron alone with Harry.

"You sure you're all right, mate? I mean…bugger…You-Know-Who!"

"You mean to bugger You-Know-Who? That just isn't right, Ron!" Ron turned white with a shade of green while Tom snickered, _Trying to get him to admit he's gay first? No, after I see the interaction, he's definitely after the brunette._ Harry replied, _The brunette's name is Hermione, which you know just as well as I. And I've sorta suspected that for awhile now, Tommy boy._

_Of course, you get around your friends and get all bloody chipper._ Tom grumpily thought. Harry grinned.

"Sorry about that Ron. Look, why don't you go after Hermione there, I think she's going to need a shoulder, and mine's still a little wet." Harry clasped Ron's shoulder and smiled encouragingly.

"Yeah, she just gets emotional over people she cares about. When she worries about you, you know she cares – bit like Mum, really."

"Yeah, and you know what they say about girls who are similar to a guy's mum…" Ron blushed furiously and strode off to Hermione and Ginny's room . Harry took out his playing card deck-sized trunk and wandlessly enlarged it – a new spell he was quite happy to be successful with and changed into his pajamas after canceling the silencing charms around the room.

Remembering both his promise to Dumbledore and the fact that Fred and George had likely left a few spare enchantments around the room, he focused very hard on a wandless revealing spell. After nearly five fruitless minutes he was able to conjure up the spell, and, to his surprise, only a few splotches of ghostly color highlighted some objects around the room. One of the floorboards near the set of bunk beds – likely where they hid things, a desk drawer as well as something inside of it, and telescope sitting on the desk. He shrugged, safe enough as long as he kept to the bed, and set his glasses on the nightstand. He spent about ten minutes with a totally cleared mind and sank into the soft bed for another blissful night of undisturbed rest.


	3. A Waking Nightmare, A Nightmare Waking

Greetings all, hope you enjoy the latest update.

**_Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge_**

Chapter Three: A Waking Nightmare, A Nightmare Waking

The next morning, Harry slowly awoke, summoned his glasses wandlessly, and grinned as he realized that he was at the Burrow and not alone at the Dursleys. Intent on doing all the wandless magic he possibly could, now that he couldn't "work out" with Dudley's weight set, he sat across the room while he opened his trunk, removed a set of clothes and a work robe for the day and summoned them to him. He hadn't quite found a spell to remove his own clothes – he wasn't quite sure what kind of spell book _that_ would be in – so he did that by hand and got changed. After a few_scourgify_ spells, Harry was clean without a shower or a need to brush his teeth, so he set off downstairs.

Apparently it was quite early. He passed Ron's room and heard the redhead's snores, no surprise there, and he even heard quiet come from Hermione and Ginny's room. When he finally made it downstairs and shuffled into the kitchen, only Mrs. Weasley and Fleur seemed to be awake. Mrs. Weasley, as usual, was bustling around the kitchen preparing a sizable breakfast, while Fleur seemed to get in her way somewhat.

"Morning, Mrs. Weasley. My, both of you ladies look ravishing today. How can I help you get ready, Mrs. Weasley?" Harry said. Tom's rather encyclopedic knowledge of flattery definitely paid off as both Fleur and Mrs. Weasley smiled brightly at him in response.

"Oh, good morning Harry, dear. I think I have it all under control here, why don't you and Fleur go set the table or something?" She said, waving her wand in the direction of the scrambling eggs on the stove to stir them. Harry had to hand it to her; though he had quite a lot of experience cooking with the Dursleys in the Muggle way, he would only likely succeed in catching the house on fire if he tried to help her. Fleur and Harry grabbed the dishes and went out through the door to the dining room. Harry, remembering how lonely she felt yesterday, struck up a conversation.

"Well, I'm kinda glad she kicked me out of there – I've only ever cooked the Muggle way, so I'd probably just damage the breakfast!" Fleur smiled at him again.

"Yes, me too, 'Arry. I 'ave not done much of ze cooking 'ere since I 'ave come. I would like to learn, but…" Harry put a comforting hand on her back, another trick learned from Tom.

"Well why don't you and I learn how to maneuver the kitchen this afternoon, then? We can prepare lunch and give Mrs. Weasley a bit of a break. And if we do blow the kitchen up, we can always make sandwiches!" Fleur laughed and her smile once again lit up the room, causing Harry to buckle down on his Occlumency and clear his mind.

"I would like zat, 'Arry. Oh, you are such a sweet boy." She bent down, hugged him, and kissed both cheeks.

_You know Harry, even without the effects of her Veela charm affecting you, you are starting to enjoy her company a lot more. I definitely think its time to get you started on a girlfriend._ Tom reiterated. He'd been saying this all summer to Harry; Harry suspected that Tom had never had one and just wanted to benefit from the feelings that would result too – a little love never hurt anyone except Voldemort.

Harry finished setting the table just as Mrs. Weasley came out with the first of the platters of food. Fleur ran upstairs to wake Bill, leaving Mrs. Weasley alone with Harry.

"So, Harry, I heard from Albus that you convinced Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement." She began as they both brought out more food.

"Well, I was there, though I really didn't do much. I think he was looking for an excuse, really."

"Did you like him?" She asked.

"He seemed nice enough. I could tell he was trying to suck up to me on account of my celebrity, but Professor Dumbledore said that he's a really good teacher, so I'm glad he accepted, whatever the reason."

"Oh yes, Horace was always good. And you're absolutely right about his celebrity. He taught when Arthur and I were in school, though I understand he started teaching just about the same time Professor Dumbledore did," Harry thought this explained why Dumbledore introduced him as a "friend" and not just a "colleague", "He always tended to pick out the high flyers, people who'd go far in life, you know. Never had much time for Arthur, but it just goes to show you how wrong people can be. I don't know if Ron's told you in his letters, but Arthur's been promoted! Oh yes, Scrimgeour – much better Minister than Fudge, you know – recognized Arthur's talent and promoted him first thing! He's the head of the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects. Very important position, you know, what with the war going on! All kinds of good-for-nothings coming up with fake charms and protective necklaces and such garbage. And my Arthur's got to get rid of it all. Oh, it keeps him busy, to be sure – gone early in the morning and working past midnight, most days, but its such a good position we can't complain." Mr. Weasley chose this time to come down for breakfast and Harry took the opportunity to take a look at the wizard; he'd not been home for supper last night and Harry supposed he'd already been in bed when he came home. Mr. Weasley certainly looked a little worn-out, from Harry's perspective. Slight bags were starting to form under his eyes, no doubt from the long days away from home; a tired smile, however, graced his face as he caught sight of Harry.

"Ah, Harry, Molly told me you'd come last night. Good to see you again, and looking so healthy! Those Muggles must have fed you a spot more this year, I think, for you to not look quite so gaunt. I'm glad our little intimidation speech worked!" Arthur said as he shook Harry's hand.

"Ah, yeah. I kinda told them that Mad-Eye was at the house under an invisibility cloak, and I'd 'talk' to him every once in a while, telling him not to pull his wand out and things like that. Uncle Vernon even insisted on a second helping after that, a few times." Arthur laughed at this, and even Molly smiled – a testament to how much she must have despised those "awful Muggles".

"Well, I'm so glad, Harry dear. Arthur, I was just telling Harry about your promotion, why don't you tell him about what it is you've been doing?" Molly said, heaping food onto first Arthur's and then Harry's plate – ignoring the fact that Harry already had some food on his plate.

"Ah, well, you know, people come up with all sorts of bogus gadgets that are supposed to protect you, you know, during the war. Happened last time too. Terrible, taking advantage of the paranoia like that. Of course, some of them really work, but a lot of it is just rubbish. Just a few nights ago I was dealing with so-called Metamorph Medals – 'A thousand disguises for just a galleon' – all they really did was turn your skin orange, I think." Harry thought that sounded like a pretty good idea, and asked Mr. Weasley about a functional "Metamorph Medal", "Well, Harry, that's a tricky bit of Transfiguration, you know. Human transfiguration always is, of course…though I believe you'll start learning about that this year. Anyway, if you really want a functional one, I'll keep an eye out while I'm on duty, but don't get your hopes up." By Mr. Weasley's tone, Harry sincerely doubted that he expected to find one.

"You know, Arthur, that thing sounds like exactly the kind of shenanigans that the twins' would –" Molly began sternly, but Arthur cut her off.

"No, Molly. I've told you time and again, the twins' products really work. They take a lot of pride in their little inventions, and wouldn't sell them if they didn't work. They're good boys, you know that." Arthur said, placating his wife.

"I'm just so worried about more of that business like with the car, you know, the _Prophet_ calling you a hypocrite and all that. Oh, I just don't think I could bear it!" Harry actually thought the "Metamorph Medals" did sound like something the twins could develop, and asked Mr. Weasley for the dysfunctional one.

"Sure Harry, here you are. Just don't turn yourself orange, you know. I heard about your permission for dueling from Molly, too, Harry. I'd love to help you myself, but I'm just too busy what with the Order and the new job. Be careful when you're practicing, we'd hate to have accidents. Though Molly's a fair hand and healing, so you be sure to let her check you out when you finish. Ah, look at the time, duty calls, Harry. Love you, Molly dear." Arthur stood up, grabbed his briefcase, and Disapparated with a sharp crack.

Bill and Fleur came down to breakfast shortly after, both looking a little disheveled – no mystery what took _them_ so long – and Harry excused himself to take a closer look at his Metamorph Medal.

Upstairs, a silent revealing spell – this one only took him three minutes to get off, a marked improvement – showed that the Medal actually _was_ properly enchanted. The wizard who did it, however, wasn't able to channel enough magic into it to do much except turn slightly orange or possibly lengthen the nose a bit. Harry, however, thought it was something to start with.

Clearing his mind, he thought of the look of the magic in the revealing spell, and brought the effects of the spell to his mind. He focused on the necklace and saw that the magic, while present, was just too _small_; he brought forth his magic to bear and channeled it through his hand to the necklace. He urged the magic to stay in the medal and fuel the spell present. Tom could do this kind of thing easily; it was similar to the process of possession or making a Horcrux – though that was pushing a soul fragment, not magic, into an object. When Harry felt completely drained, he did another revealing spell on the Medal. This time the magic showed up much more vividly; perhaps he'd succeeded?

Harry slipped the necklace on and stood up in front of the mirror. He imagined himself with the Weasley hair, and before his eyes, his black hair lightened to the familiar Weasley red. _Excellent. This could be very useful indeed_. Tom commented. Harry decided to see just how far he could go, and focused on his mind's image of Tom: A middle aged man, taller than Harry, with handsome, aristocratic features, dark eyes; He had well-maintained hair in a classic parted style, with just the edges beginning to gray in a way that accented his features; he had perfect teeth and a roguish grin that could charm anyone. Harry opened his eyes and staring back at him in the mirror was Tom Riddle Junior, or what he would have looked like if he hadn't torn his very soul asunder. Harry could definitely see him as a Minister of Magic candidate; he definitely looked the part. Amused with his new skill, Harry morphed back into himself and shrunk the Medal to an unnoticeable size under his robe – the magic functioned regardless.

"Harry!" He dropped to the ground as he spun, pulling his wand out from his left sleeve as he did so, only to face Ron, who'd come running in. Ignoring the wand in his face, Ron continued, "There you are mate, I was wondering why you weren't down at breakfast." Hermione and Ginny came into the room shortly after Ron, both of them sitting down on his bed. _Hmmm…wonder how many times you've wanted that to happen_, Tom began with a drawl.

"Oh…well, I helped your mum make it, but none of you were down yet, so I decided to wait until you came down to eat myself." Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and smiled.

"Oh, good, so you don't get like Ron around her. I'm surprised, but good for you, Harrry. She's just been so awful that neither Ginny nor I can stand her." Harry thought it was rather rude to talk about Mrs. Weasley in such a way – especially from Ginny.

"Yeah, always fluttering about – and pops out at you, cor blimey, mate, its annoying." Ron added. Ginny turned to him with a smirk on her face.

"Oh really, Ron? Because you only ever seem to follow her around like a lost puppy – bit like your fourth year, isn't it, Hermione?" _What the bloody hell are they talking about? Ron doesn't follow his mum around._

"Er – what are you two talking about? I really haven't the slightest grasp on the conversation." Hermione turned to him with a questioning smile, but Ginny was the one to respond.

"_Phelgm_, Harry. Honestly. Whenever she's around Ron turns into a drooling moron. Ugh, she's such a ninny. And you should hear her talk about Bill, too – goes on and on, and I'm sure it's only for our benefit. Mum feels the same way, but she doesn't want to be rude."

"What's wrong with Fleur? She's always been nice…" Ginny rolled her eyes while Hermione's eyes lit up like she figured out a puzzle, and then she got a scowl on her face.

"You like her too, do you? I hadn't thought so, since you didn't turn into a blabbering idiot like _Ronald_ over there, but you're just the same. Is a pretty face all you're after, Harry?" She rolled her eyes in exasperation and crossed her arms.

"First of all, Fleur is not just a pretty face. She was a Tri-Wizard Tournament Champion, after all. More qualified than all the other girls at Beauxbatons, remember?" Harry couldn't believe any of them – what did they have against Fleur? Hermione was probably jealous of the way Ron acted around her, he could understand that, but Ginny? And Ron?

"Well she wasn't a very good Champion, was she Harry? After all, you were only a fourth year and you won the Tournament –" Hermione began, but Harry interrupted, eyes flashing.

"Excuse me, Hermione? You think that she's just a pretty face because she didn't perform as well as me in three life-threatening tasks that were set to us? I got lucky in all of those, if you do remember. The magic she performed far outclassed mine in all of the tasks, though I didn't witness any of it in the Third Task. And does that make me a better wizard? Of course not! Nor am I a better wizard than Krum, and certainly not Cedric! I can't even believe you would say that! And just for the record, Fleur's Veela charm has nothing to do with my behavior – the Occlumency I've been practicing has assured that. I like her because she's a nice person! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat breakfast." Harry walked out of the twins' room into the hallway, leaving behind his friends – none of whom had taken his declaration well. As he turned to head downstairs, to his surprise he saw none other than a teary-eyed Fleur Delacour.

"Thank you, 'Arry," Fleur said as she quickly hugged him and continued on to Charlie's room, where she was staying. The door closed quickly after her. Harry waltzed right back into the room where his friends – who'd seen Fleur rush past the doorway – still stood.

"Well I hope you're all quite happy with yourselves. Did you ever stop to think of how hard it might be for Fleur to be here with you all, where you don't even speak her primary language? Or how about being abruptly dropped into your boyfriend's family, which is probably quite a bit of a culture shock. Ron, you know I love your family, but it was damned awkward for me to come here for the first time and meet all of you. I only became comfortable because you were all so welcoming to me! You treated me like I was a member of the family – why couldn't you do the same for her?" He waited for their answer. Ginny was the first brave soul to step forward; Harry knew Hermione's reasoning, or thought he did, but he also knew she wouldn't say a word in front of Ron.

"We just…we don't really think Bill'd be happy with her; Mum's had Tonks over a lot, and we think she'd be loads better…"

"I don't see why you think so – Fleur's great. Of course, you'd have to get to know her first to actually know that and be a judge of her character, so I can't expect that from you, it seems. Hermione, I think I know your reasons," Hermione paled slightly, hoping he wouldn't talk about her jealousy in front of the object of her affections, "And Ron, I rather suspect you're just going along with these two. Well, I'm disappointed in all of you." He strode out the door – it slammed shut of his magic's volition, just after he heard Hermione say, "He sounded so grown up…"

Harry decided to go out to the pond – it was still on Weasley property, so he wasn't violating his oath to Dumbledore, though he rather thought fondly of taken out his frustration at his friends on a nearby Death Eater – was chucking stones across it. Truthfully, he immediately found throwing the stones unsatisfying, and was now wandlessly banishing them rather forcefully. Another stone shot up like a bullet and hit the far shore; he'd been overshooting for almost ten minutes.

_Have they always been like that, Tom? Petty, jealous, superficial? Fleur did nothing to them, and they ridicule her just because they don't know that she's a nice person, and judge her for being too pretty? Was I like that too? Have I changed so much from having this new knowledge in my head, having you in my head?_ Harry wondered.

_Well, Harry, I'm rather inclined to think you haven't changed much at all. You still have a temper, after all. Now, it's all well and good to be mad at your friends for doing what they did – both you and I know the adverse effects of cruel teasing, after all – but that's not why you're mad. You're scared, Harry. That's okay, there is nothing wrong with fear._ Tom's words hit deep. Harry knew he couldn't have been that mad at his friends, even if they did hurt Fleur.

_Tom…how can I pretend to be like them when I'm not? I don't want to be alone and friendless at school. But everything's so different, it feels so different. Their behavior seemed so stupidly childish. Why would I want to be like that, how could I be like that…I'm going to lose them, Tom. We're going to drift apart and I'm not going to have any friends until I'm sixty like you and they get more mature._ Tom listened to his rant, but didn't reply as he and Harry noticed Hermione approach.

"Harry – wow, good arm, by the way – I just wanted to tell you how sorry we were. You were definitely right, we were being so stupid. We all went and apologized to Fleur…we were hoping you'd come in and breakfast with us?" Hermione looked quite sheepish as she looked up hopefully at Harry.

"Of course, Hermione. And I'm sorry I blew up like that…I was right, but I certainly shouldn't have gotten so angry at you all. Forgive me?" Hermione responded by wrapping him in a tight hug, which he gladly returned. "And Hermione? He's crazy about you, you know, even if he's too daft to know it. You don't have to worry about some other girl; trust me, he'll come around eventually." He flashed her one of his "Tom Riddle" smiles and she wrapped one arm around his shoulders as she led him back up to the house.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Harry." She said coyly with a smile. Tom took this time to utter an, _I told you so_, and reassured Harry that he wouldn't immediately lose all his friends.

An hour later found the four students back at the edge of the pond; this time Fleur joined them as Harry's dueling partner for his first session. Harry fingered his wand nervously, as he nodded to Fleur to shoot her first spell.

_Alright, Harry, now first thing identify the spell – probably cast in French – and respond with the proper counter curse or shield; no need to overestimate the needed shield, but don't underestimate either._ Fleur shouted in French and a red bolt of light shot out of her wand. Harry was about to shout, "Protego!" when Tom interrupted with _No Harry, use Fortis Aegis, you aren't sure how much powe –_ Tom was never able to finish his thought as the red curse hit Harry and he flew back, hit dead on by the stunner.

He awoke on his back surrounded by the concerned faces of his friends. "Bloody hell, mate, are you practicing how to get hit proper or what?" After seeing he was okay, his friends smiled and laughed at what had happened; it was the first time that Harry was knocked out so quickly, even in the many D.A. meetings.

"Right, sorry about that my mind was a little scatterbrained." _Tom, I appreciate your advice but maybe your timing is less than appropriate?_ "Let's try again, right Fleur?" This time Fleur let out a half-hearted red spell that Harry immediately sidestepped and, before it had even reached him, he said, "Impedimenta! Stupefy!" Both curses hit Fleur, who then had to be revived by Harry. He helped her up, smiling, and said, "You know, that first time really was a fluke, you don't have to pull the punches for me." She rolled her eyes and their practice began in earnest. Truthfully, she wasn't terrible at dueling, certainly better than almost any of the D.A. members, even the N.E.W.T. students, when they'd started. Harry found that as long as Tom kept his criticisms to himself when the spells were flying, except for sending the occasional idea for the next spell into Harry's mind – purely to keep his arsenal from getting boring, of course – then Harry could defeat Fleur pretty handily. He noticed a marked increase in the power of his spells since he'd last let loose at the Ministry – Tom took all the credit for that, having forced him to practice – and a definite increase in his repertoire, even if he wasn't sending Bone Shattering Curses at Fleur unless she could easily dodge them. Only a few times had he sent any nonverbal incantations; he decided to ease them into his arsenal slowly in front of his friends, even if he found the method of casting to be fairly easy, not to mention significantly faster than verbal incantations.

After about an hour of dueling – Harry had to resort to amusing himself after the first few successful bouts, and toyed with Fleur a bit before disarming or stunning her, which included summoning a significant quantity of water from the pond, "missing" Fleur with several cutting hexes that happened to hit branches of the trees behind her, which he transfigured into vines to hold her down, and several other fun tricks – Harry and Fleur finished with the day's practice. He'd had to stop himself from attempting complex animations of the tree behind her; such magic was, after all, far beyond N.E.W.T. work. If Tom hadn't been a Transfiguration Master to rival Dumbledore himself – evidence included Voldemort's work turning Dumbeldore's fire whip to a snake back in the Ministry – then Harry certainly would have never even thought of it. Harry was, indeed, anxious to begin work in Professor McGonagall's class; even with only the new focus provided by his Occlumency, he knew he'd see amazing improvement in that class.

"Hey Harry, why don't the rest of us join Fleur in getting wet and hop in the pond for a bit?" Ginny asked. Fleur thought that a marvelous idea.

"Oh yes! Zat is a fantasteek idea." Fleur waved her wand over herself, transfiguring her clothes into a small silver bikini. Ron's eyes glazed over and his mouth opened slightly in a goofy smile. Hermione glared, first at Ron and then at Fleur, while Harry cleared his mind to shake off the pretty Veela's effect, shook his head at Ron's behavior, and stripped off his shirt. Leaving his shoes, shirt, and wand on the shore, he dove into the pond in his shorts. The girls, apparently, were more prepared than Harry, for they had both worn their swimsuits underneath their clothes. Both of them hopped in to join Harry in the pond; Harry promptly used a bit of wandless magic to splash them with a lot more water than he should have been able to, and grinned at the sopping girls. Ron was still staring at Fleur, who was lying on the beach tanning, which Hermione noticed.

"Oh honestly Ronald, you act like you've never seen a girl in a bikini before!" She started hotly. The sound of her voice shook him from his stupor, and he at least had the good grace to look embarrassed at his behavior. He stripped to his swimsuit and jumped in with the rest of them.

"Well, Hermione, Mr. Weasley said that Veela more strongly affect teenaged males due to our imbalanced hormones, so you can't really blame Ron. Plus, I tend to suspect that a Veela's charm is proportional to the amount of skin shown…and Fleur's bikini is rather small…" Harry began. Hermione turned her glare to him.

"Oh, and I suppose the fact that you aren't drooling all over her is just more proof for your theory, then?" She asked venomously. Harry smiled sadly and hugged his best friend – Tom coughed rather obviously to draw attention to himself when Harry noted the fact that he rather enjoyed hugging Hermione, but Harry couldn't control his hormones that well either. He whispered, "I know its hard, Hermione, but he can't help it; that Occlumency training is the only thing preventing me from acting the same way. Trust me, the fact that you were able to draw his attention away from her is proof that he's crazy about you." Hermione did seem to lose her steam here, and smiled a bit at Harry. Ron, making his way over to them, seemed significantly more upset than he had just a moment before; Harry rolled his eyes – if his friends kept their behavior up, he was in for a long year indeed.

"Well, you two seem awful friendly, Harry." Ron said in a fairly cold voice. Harry fought against the urge to roll his eyes and merely smiled and replied, "Well why shouldn't we be? She looked like she needed a hug." Harry moved over to Ginny, who realized what he was doing and quirked her eyebrow before she broke out in a little smile and jumped into Harry's awaiting arms. Harry started to blush a little with her very _enthusiastic_ embrace. After the hug, at which Hermione seemed to have no amount of contained mirth at and a knowing smile in the direction of Ginny.

_Why do I smell a setup from Hermione?_ Tom questioned. Harry responded, _She probably got it into her mind somehow that I need a good woman in my life and took things into her own hands by planting the idea in Ginny's mind. Or Ginny never really got over her crush over me and told Hermione about it. Hmmm…_

After a fun time in the pond, the four of them spent the afternoon playing Quidditch. Harry mentioned in passing the variety of available positions on the Gryffindor team – two beaters, two chasers, and a keeper – and noticed that both Ginny and Ron stuck to a Chaser and Keeper position, respectively, for the rest of the evening. And both of them were quite good at those respective positions. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all took turns shooting at Ron, who held off all of Harry and Hermione's shots, but could only stop half of Ginny's. Content with the enjoyable day, hopefully indicative of the rest of his summer, they all returned to the Burrow for the evening.

Harry awoke as he was thrown bodily from his bed to the ceiling, bouncing off the wall as fell down. Spinning angrily, he let loose a spread of silent Flinging Hexes himself before identifying his opponent. Taking Tom's advice and rolling to a new position while his attacker was hopefully dazed. He had no such luck, however, and was forced to dodge a jet of red light – he thought that was a Disarming spell, but could have been a stunner. Diving behind his bed for some cover, he decided it was time to up the ante a bit, and shouted, "_Ossus Fragmen"_, and a yellow light shot out of his wand. He heard a surprised yelp of pain and let loose a blistering stream of nonverbal disarming and stunning spells. When he heard a dull 'thud' that sounded like a body hitting the ground, he let out a moan – his shoulder was either broken or dislocated when he hit the wall, and he'd knocked his head on the ceiling so that, now that he concentrated, he realized there were black spots in his vision.

Neither thinking nor realizing that the commotion had attracted an audience, he muttered several of the minor healing charms Tom knew to get rid of his concussion and sore shoulder, rolling it when he'd finished.

"Bloody hell, Harry, you knocked out Mad-Eye!" Ron exclaimed. Harry was actually fairly surprised at this – the venerable auror was one of the few that Tom had a grudging respect for. Mad-Eye had taken down some of Tom's most skilled and volatile Death Eaters, often single-handedly. Harry knew that Mad-Eye had only underestimated him and not expected him to sleep with his wand. Mrs. Weasley hurried up to revive Moody, who sat up with a feral grin and lazily waved his wand over his fractured left femur.

"Well, well, well, Potter. I see you've some spirit after all. But no perimeter charm – you should've woken up the second I Apparated onto the property! And not even any type of security on your door, are you looking to die, Potter? Tonks told me about Albus' permission for you to duel, so here I am. I've got little to do for the rest of the summer – just finished a mission and Albus thinks I need some recovery time. I think he might be right if the likes of you got the better of me…nice curse, by the way – if you'd have aimed it proper and hit my back, I might not be walking just yet. We'll be fixing yer aim, first, to be sure. Well what are you waiting for, Potter, get up and outside already!" He hobbled away, leaving a rather flabbergasted Weasley family, all in their pajamas, and Harry.

"He's a lunatic!" Harry said under his breath; he got no correction from any of his observers. When he hurried down the stairs, having pulled on a pair of jeans and in the process of buttoning his shirt, he was shocked to hit with a curse that knocked him down, upside down, and sent him the rest of the way down the stairs headfirst.

"You think a Death Eater is going to hit you at an opportune time once you're ready to duel him, Potter? We'll rid you of your naivety yet, boy!" Moody proclaimed. Harry groaned as he once again stopped a splitting headache by healing his head, and set off after Moody.

All morning he dodged curse after curse, which Moody thought a fine skill to learn at the end of his own wand. While cursing Harry nonverbally, Moody would lecture the boy and critique him rather sharply, much to the enjoyment of his observers. At first it was only Hermione, Ginny, and Ron – all of whom thought it tremendously funny – but they were soon joined by Fleur, the twins, Lupin, and Tonks. The spectacle was considerably less funny when Moody decided the observers needed an object lesson too and nearly immolated Ron with a well-placed _Incendio_ on his robes.

Moody's first break was for lunch, which, after a morning of scowling faces and harsh criticism, he surprised everyone by smiling widely and kindly thanking Mrs. Weasley graciously. Ron merely whimpered, "Bloody mad, he is." Tom remarked several times that Barty Crouch's imitation of the auror didn't quite capture the insanity. Harry, dripping with sweat after the aerobic morning, silently shoveled in as much food as Ron in an attempt to replenish his energy.

After lunch was Moody's work on Harry's magical shielding, with which he was pleasantly surprised. Of course, his initial grin at Harry's knowledge of auror-level shields turned into scowls as he ruthlessly battered them down time and again. Moody pronounced his work finished after three high-powered Reductor curses battered down Harry's _Aegis_ shield and sent him flying through the kitchen window of the Burrow. He fixed the broken window, nodded to Molly, and hobbled to the edge of the Burrow's wards, whistling, proclaiming that he'd return in two days. Remus carried Harry up to his bed after reassuring a concerned Ginny that Harry would be fine.

Harry awoke the next morning, about thirteen hours later, to find Remus smiling at him. "Hello Harry, have a good bit of a rest?"

"Remus. I think I'm dying. Sore all over. Ugh." Harry moaned pitifully. He heard a giggle from the doorway and cracked his eye open to see a pretty redhead standing there with what appeared to be breakfast.

"Here you go, mister dueling master." Ginny said with a smirk, sitting near his stomach. He gave her a wry grin and began nibbling some toast.

"Hey Remus, can you do a few healing spells for me? I feel terrible." He noticed that Ginny was rubbing his back in a comforting way and he decided that her delicate hands soothing his weary back muscles felt better than anything he'd ever experienced.

"Unfortunately, Harry, I'm under strict instructions from both Tonks and Moody – magical healing will only reverse the damage and prevent muscle growth. Mad-Eye expects to get you used to this workout, and that can only occur if I don't heal you. I can, however, numb you up a bit." Remus did so and Harry sighed in comfort, able to eat slightly more now.

"Did I hear my name being called?" Tonks popped in with a brilliant smiled on her face; her hair was a brilliant blue and the tearstains so evident on her face a few days ago were totally gone. Harry and greeted her with a, "Wotcher." Tonks surveyed the spectacle of Harry and Ginny on his bed and, with a knowing smile, replied, "'Lo there, loverboy. Speaking of…" Harry blushed, but it faded into a grin as she turned to Remus, who'd returned to his seat, jumped in his lap and forcefully pulled him by his shirt into a long, slow kiss. When they broke, she 'cooed' in a satisfied manner and he had a dopey grin on his face.

"I guess I've you to thank for that, eh, Harry? I heard you had quite the talk with my little Remy here – you little matchmaker. And here I figured you wanted me for yourself…not that you don't obviously have a willing harem of young girls here waiting to jump into bed with you." She smirked again at Ginny, who'd blushed furiously and jumped away from Harry – much to his disappointment at the loss of her wonderful fingertips.

"Anyway, Remy and I are here to square up with you – I believe you have at least two duels with us as part of an agreement with the old boy." She seemed to glance at Remus when she mentioned her 'old' comment as though to warn him against stupidity.

"Ugh…maybe later, when I don't feel postmortem. Try a few weeks from now." Harry continued eating his breakfast.

"Oh come on, Harry, its you and me taking free shots against Remus as Round One." Tonks whined.

"Free shots? I thought it was a duel." Tonks turned to him with her eyes narrowed and hair turned a shade of red, making her into a scary imitation of Mrs. Weasley.

"I say its free shots, wolfie. Are you really in a position to get a better deal out of me?" He kissed her cheek and said, "Free shots, of course, my dear."

"Good boy. I'll have you trained yet!" Her hair shifted to a bubblegum pink as she clutched Remus arm, and Harry could only smile at their antics. If ever two people deserved happiness, it was certainly these two; and if he'd given them a slight nudge in the right direction, it only made him feel even better about the whole thing. Continuing to eat the breakfast Ginny'd brought up as the four of them settled into casual conversation, Harry only perked up when Tonks mentioned Mad-Eye.

"I don't know what happened yesterday, Harry, but when I talked to Moody last night, he was nearly giddy. He said he surprised you by waking you up with a Flinging Hex, and you ended up knocking him out. Seriously, if I didn't know better, I'd think he was in love!" Harry had to stop himself from choking on his food as he erupted into laughter. Harry finished breakfast and they all headed downstairs, Tonks tripping over the top of them forcing Remus to catch her; Harry quickly changed and joined them as they headed outside.

Tonks had on a serious face as she and Harry faced off against Remus. She crossed the distance, kissed him hard for a few seconds, then started whispering in his ear; kissing him again, she headed back to Harry.

"My turn?" She cuffed him over the head as he continued, "So what'd you say to him?" She smiled at the remembrance.

"I told him that if he cursed either of us, he'd be sleeping on the couch again tonight. If we got to curse him, then I'd…nurse him back to health. Any more details will have to wait until you're older." He smiled and nodded, drawing his wand. Both of them turned to Remus with hard looks on their faces, causing him to gulp slightly, eliciting cheers from the large audience – Molly, Fleur, and the twins had joined the younger crowd to watch Remus get his due.

Tonks started out by flipping Remus upside down, while Harry smirked and did a bit of complex transfiguration Tom knew to turn his hair a neon green reminiscent of something Tonks would wear. Laughing at Harry's idea, Tonks turned his robes purple with green polka dots to match his hair. His skin then turned orange, his robe turned into a full-length gown, he grew large, exaggerated breasts to fill said gown, and his hair lengthened and shaped into braided pigtails. Tonks let him down with a satisfied cackle as she and Harry bowed to applause.

"Alright, Harry, now its time that you faced off against both of us." Remus said after Tonks hugged and kissed him again. Harry, determined to show that all of Moody's efforts the previous day weren't wasted.

Remus and Tonks simultaneously shot off spells, so Harry lazily put up a wandless _Protego_ shield and shot off Flinging Hexes at both of them. Rolling to avoid their next salvo of curses, Harry called out "_Avis_" with several silent repetitions of the spell to conjure up a large flock of birds; a silent _Oppugno_ and the birds began to dive bomb and peck his opponents. In a bit more complex animation, another group of birds began to fly around him with orders to intercept any curses that made it past his defenses. Seeing that Tonks was getting angry at the birds and focused on them, he audibly sent off a bludgeoning hex at her – the solid impact sent her flying to the ground with a groan. However, he'd temporary let his attention on Remus flag, so one of his birds swept down quickly to intercept his spell. Harry set up a shield to block the next batch of curses sent his way by the angry auror, and returned a spread of disarming and stunning spells.

"_Coepio_" "_Expulso_" It seemed that Remus and Nymphadora were getting frustrated by him, since those were curses that might actually hurt if he let them hit him; a silent _Absolvo_ shield ensured that both were stopped, though Remus' powerful Blasting Curse nearly knocked him down despite the shield. Harry shot back two silent _Reducto_ curses – one caused Remus to yelp as it grazed his left arm – but his two opponents anticipated his dodging of their next curses and nailed him. Tonks' Reductor curse ended all of his remaining bird protectors in several 'poofs' of feathers and Remus' powerful Bludgeoning Hex hit him soundly in his sternum, causing an audible 'crack'. On his knees after that round with tears in his eyes, Harry was able to gasp, "_Incendus Ventus_" and a massive ball of fire appeared and sailed towards the two on a sharp gust of wind. They both avoided the brunt of the curse – which ignited a tree – and went over to Harry, who was curled up on his knees.

"Hey Harry, great duel – are you alright? We kinda hit you with some real nice curses." Tonks said brightly as she extinguished her robe. Remus gently fixed the multiple fractures in his sternum and helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, it was fun, I'll be sure to square off against aurors and Defense teachers again real soon…" He said sharply, the pain in his chest not entirely healed. Remus chuckled at him.

"Ah, but look how wonderfully you held both of us off; really, Harry, that was fantastic, you kept both of us on our toes. I think if we'd really been enemies after your blood and you used some stronger curses, we might not have gotten the chance to hit you." They all went back in the house as everyone was describing their duel in excited tones, reminiscing about particularly creative spells – Hermione just _loved_ Harry's use of birds as an extra layer of defense, while Ron still liked Remus' hair color alteration. Though he'd managed to reverse the rest of the changes by now, he hadn't expected Harry to use such competent transfiguration, and didn't yet understand how Harry's color changing charm was so resilient. Harry was hardly able to get through lunch without glancing at Remus' hair and chuckling.

After lunch, Remus and Tonks left the Burrow - likely to catch up on "neglected relationship duties", as Tonks insinuated with a smile and a wink. This left the entire afternoon and evening free for more Quidditch, which ended when Ron lay exhausted from constant Quaffle-tossing. Hermione insisted that he showed loads of improvement over yesterday, praise that reddened Ron and began a quiet conversation between the two, leaving Harry to complement Ginny's Chasing skills and Ginny to truthfully tell him that he should stick to the Snitch. Harry made sure to tie a warning alarm into the property's wards that night, in addition to a perimeter charm and a few solid locking spells on the door in preparation for Moody the next morning.

Instead of setting off the alarms by an attempted murder on Harry, once Harry'd gotten up from Moody crossing the wards and quickly dressed, he found the auror in comfortable conversation with Molly over a morning tea. He got an evil smile on his face at the sight of Harry, and made his excuses to Molly when he motioned for the door.

"Well, I heard you had quite a fun time with Lupin and Tonks. I also heard you lost. Why?" Harry expected that Moody had already gone over every aspect of his performance in a pensieve or something, so he used Tom's assessment and critique of his duel to satisfy Moody. "My aim was bad on almost all of the curses, as I concentrated too much on moving around instead of relying on shields to block the curses they could. I had a good idea using summoned birds as a defense barrier, but when I lost focus Tonks destroyed them with a Reductor curse and so I got hit by Remus' Bludgeoner." Moody nodded seriously.

"Aye, an apt summary. Good to know you pay attention when you're fighting. Learn from your mistakes, Harry, and you'll show more improvement than I can force down your throat." Harry smiled when he realized that he'd used his first name instead of a harsh, "Potter". It seemed that the auror was indeed impressed with his performance.

"Today we'll be doing more defensive work - get you used to having spells flung at you. First, instead of birds, conjure up something that might actually protect against a damaging curse - Death Eaters won't throw stunners at you! Now give me some marble." Ignoring the fact that conjuring was N.E.W.T. work, and that a tough rock like marble was even more difficult to conjure, Harry searched Tom's knowledge and was able to conjure up a small ball of marble.

"Good, now with a few levitation spells and that same animation you used on the birds, you'll be surrounded by chunks of marble instead of bags of feathers. Good thing about marble is that it'll go to dust when hit by a Reductor; its my rock of choice, though others use granite or concrete to similar effect. Let's see it at work, then." Harry conjured up several more chunks of granite and animated them in a similar fashion to the birds, and was pelted by Moody's Reductor curses, until he moved on to several more destructive Blasting Curses. After lunch Moody resumed Harry's dodging exercises, and for a while after dinner, while everyone else played Quidditch, Harry got a defensive spell combination exercise where he dodged, shielded, or conjured up marble to block curse after curse. Harry hit his bed unconscious that night after his longest and most painful day yet.

The following day, after several attempts at wandless numbing charms that finally paid off, Harry took it easy and spent the day inside reading a few of Hermione's new Arithmancy books, which detailed several new developments that Tom added to his vast knowledge. Harry also began work on something Tom had pestered him about almost from day one - a modified stunning curse that could only be lifted by Harry. Of course, it could possibly be considered slightly dark magic - since, without being revived, the victim might live forever in a coma, but Harry thought it infinitely better than, for instance, shooting a Killing Curse to keep his opponents down. While Ginny glanced down at the pages of complex numbers and calculations, gave Harry an inquisitive look, and smiled at him, he knew that he'd have to hide the work from Hermione because he couldn't have explained the sudden advanced Arithmancy work. Perhaps he could pretend that he'd found it somewhere and show it to her for her to "figure out what it does". It was also on this day that Tom decided to share something with Harry.

_You know, Harry, you may benefit from having some of Voldemort's memories. He fought many duels, and much of your training would...go more quickly...if you had access to them. They might provide you with better instincts, quick thinking, the touch of experience, if you will. Though, of course, the memories are generally terrible and involve the death of the aurors and sometimes Death Eaters._

_I think that's a good idea, Tom. I need to accelerate the training in any way that I can, even if it means reliving your memories. As long as there are no torture scenes, I should be able to stomach it._

Harry was immediately flooded with so many memories that he couldn't even fight the blackness that enveloped him, causing him to "nap" on the armchair.

_"Is this the best that Dumbledore can send? Two young fools looking for glory?" Harry snarled as he let loose a Rupturing Curse. It was a favorite of his new Death Eater Dolohov, and he appreciated the suffering it caused. Dolohov himself lay unconscious, victim's of the damnable Prewitt brothers that he would now kill himself. His purple spell hit the red-haired Order member squarely in the chest, and he dropped as Harry cackled with malice. His twin brother, and indeed the two of them could easily be mistaken for Fred and George in a few years, cried out, "No, Gid!!" and let loose a furious barrage of curses that Voldemort batted aside easily. Finally, the distraught Prewitt, for Harry was fairly certain that these were Molly's twin brothers, let loose a "Crucio" that penetrated Voldemort's shield. Thinking about the identity of the victims allowed Harry to separate the actions of Voldemort from himself and not feel guilty about killing Molly's brothers. Voldemort merely laughed after he arose from the ground, apparently unphased by Fabian's curse. He kicked the leg of another fallen Death Eater - four of them on the ground! They needed more training - and advanced upon the lone brother._

_"Oh my, a Cruciatus! That almost tickled, even! Whatever would your exalted leader think, my dear Fabian? Or your dear brother Gideon? I think he would be disappointed." _

_"Shut up you monster! I'll kill you!" Fabian threw another Crucio that Voldemort handily sidestepped while Voldemort taunted, "Fabian, let me fill you in on a little secret. You're using righteous anger to fuel a Dark curse - it just doesn't work that way. You need hatred - burning, raw, vile hatred - to fuel that curse. You need to want to see me writhe in agony, needles burning every inch of me, slowly driving me out of my mind in agony to really get good effects with the Cruciatus. Here, allow me to demonstrate for you!" Voldemort quickly whipped the curse, and Fabian fell on the ground as he writhed in agony and screamed himself hoarse. Voldemort held the curse for nearly twenty seconds. Fabian, his muscles still giving an occasional spasm from the aftermath of the terrible curse, struggled to get up._

_"You see, Fabian, how kind I am to teach you such valuable skills before I kill you? After all, that Cruciatus could just as easily have been an 'Avada Kedavra'. Like this one." Voldemort sent a sickly green jet of light towards the recovering brother and Fabian fell, lifeless. Voldemort smirked in his success, while Harry just felt sick._

_The scene shifted and Harry found himself a month prior to the previous scene as Voldemort, disillusioned and hidden so that he might critique the skills of his Death Eaters. While he rarely found himself on raids these days, he often would accompany his oblivious Death Eaters so that he could see which ones deserved the honored Inner Circle positions. Young Barty Crouch was promising until today, but the battle had gone poorly for the boy - and indeed, he had only just come of age recently - and he was now unconscious courtesy of that annoying Rufus Scrimgeour, partner to that loathsome Moody. Harry, focused on Moody and the new Minister, Scrimgeour, was able to separate his consciousness from Voldemort's._

_"Avada Kedavra" Voldemort knew it was Lucius who was throwing the curse; useful in the political arena, Lucius had not the flair for dueling that Dolohov did - he tended to stick with Unforgivables. Moody easily dodged the curse - he was repulsively agile - and flung a barrage of nonverbal spells back at Lucius, who got away with only a nick on his shoulder from a stray Cutting Curse. Moody turned once again to batter away a few of the sinister bats that Rookwood had transfigured and animated, and was hit in the shoulder by Rosier, which knocked him off his feet. As he spun from the force of the curse, he somehow shot Rookwood in the face, dropping him like a stone. Voldemort silently applauded the older auror for a nice shot._

_"Come on Scrimmy, you are getting a bit slow in your old age!" Dolohov, the taunting fool, said slickly. He sent off another Rupturing Curse, a very nice piece of Dark Magic at the Master Auror - next in line for Head Auror, Voldemort suspected - who dodged handily and returned fire. Malfoy, ever switching between Scrimgeour and Moody, stepped over the body of some junior auror they'd killed minutes ago and set up a shot on Scrimgeour._

_Mad-Eye Moody's scream as he clutched his face - was that half of his _nose_ gone? - was quite satisfying, but his retaliatory "Confringo" that blasted through Rosier's body - corpse, now - and sent limbs and blood flying was less than desired. Oh well, Rosier was only a few years out of Hogwarts anyway - same year as that new Potions Master, Severus, who he was friends with. He would be easy to replace. Moody turned to Scrimgeour just in time to see Dolohov's favorite curse - a nonverbal Rupturing Curse - drop him. A pity about the nonverbal; Dolohov was never very talented with nonverbal casting and it likely wouldn't kill Scrimgeour. As Malfoy and Dolohov turned to the lone standing auror, the door burst open - obviously Rookwood hadn't had time to properly secure the door, the fool - and five more aurors came bounding in. Voldemort saw fear in the eyes of his remaining Death Eaters, and so he bounded in like a great force of malice to duel the lot of them. Two dropped from green lights he shot out until the others screamed in terror - such a satisfying sound, really - and attempted to stun him._

_Voldemort brushed off the curses like the annoyances they were and knocked the three out with a single Blasting curse that likely rattled their brains._

_"My Death Eaters, we are done here!" Voldemort shot a curse at Moody to keep him out of the way and they all activated their portkeys back to Malfoy Manor, temporary headquarters. Rookwood would survive, but Rosier's corpse was left to Moody; no use wasting a portkey on a body, after all._

_The scene shifted again and again, playing out duels that resulted in the deaths of several Order members and aurors. Finally, Harry came upon one of Voldemort's defining moments - the first attack on Hogwarts, where he first learned why he was afraid of Albus Dumbledore._

_"Send your minions back, Tom." Dumbledore said with no fear - how dare the old man be so relaxed in his presence!_

_"I am Lord Voldemort, old man - you'd do well to remember that! My Death Eaters are even now destroying those Mudbloods you teach, and I have come to end your life!" Harry snarled evilly at his nemesis, circling him like a great cat around his prey. Dumbledore, ever the ignorant rabbit, didn't seem to notice._

_"I see you seem more confident in your skills now, Tom. I heard awful rumors about you relying on some marvelous cloak for quite some time. It was quite the joke around the auror's office." Dumbledore smiled; he was ridiculing me! Oh, he would pay like few others!_

_"You are delusional, Dumbledore - I am the greatest sorcerer this world has ever seen, and I need no artifacts to destroy you!" Tom sent off a Cruciatus curse at the old man; he merely stepped to the side, seemingly amused._

_"Ah, but I'll always remember the little boy who was oh so delighted to realize that those odd things happening around him didn't make him deserve the ridicule of the other children at his orphanage, Tom. Old teachers are like that, as I believe I've mentioned." Dumbledore mused._

_"That name has no meaning to me - I am Lord Voldemort!" Voldemort roared as the ground around him rose up in a show of magical might._

_"As you wish, Tom." Dumbledore jumped high into the air - Voldemort suspected a featherweight charm - and spun, sending curses towards Tom in an arc. Voldemort attempted to bat one away impudently, but it was much more difficult than he thought - that foolish old man wasn't as weak as he expected! He was forced to dive out of the way embarrassingly to avoid Dumbledore's second wave of spells. The Transfiguration Master had transfigured broken chunks of rock from Tom's pedestal into dogs and cats that he'd animated to run around the two combatants. Pretty display, but he was no match for the sheer power of Lord Voldemort._

_"Avada Kedavra!" Tom shouted as the green light lunged toward his opponent. Just as Tom tasted the victory and the green light exploded, several spells shot in Tom's direction, impacting his chest and gouging his leg painfully. How the Headmaster survive his Killing Curse?! And there, Tom saw it, the damnable cat lying still on the grass in front of a smirking Dumbledore. Lord Voldemort's power wasted on a cat? How humiliating! Drawing on his anger, he summoned forth, "Fiendfyre" and a basilisk of flame erupted from his wand and slithered quickly towards the Headmaster. Dumbledore calmly said, "Aqua Eructo" and a Phoenix emerged from the nearby lake and pummeled his basilisk of fire, shooting steam as the water and fire eliminated each other. Voldemort scowled - the old man was good, as well he knew. No wonder he never trusted Voldemort, even when he was just a boy._

_Tom's Death Eaters, who'd initially overrun the school children on the streets of Hogsmeade, were now being held back. The defenders were led by two older boys with jet black hair, one of them the spitting image of his school rival Orion Black, who'd made his first year miserable until Tom learned on his honored heritage. Traitorous branch of the family, although several of his Death Eaters were of the other branches of the family. A flame-haired girl, quite beautiful and seemingly skilled - must be a blood traitor Weasley, for surely no Mudblood could stand against his followers, though Weasleys weren't much better. And lastly, a brown haired, plain looking boy with an impressive spell repertoire. Hmmm. Another boy was unconscious near the Black, probably a Mudblood friend of his. Filth. _

_Dumbledore noted Tom's distraction and conjured a fire whip that surrounded his former student. He turned it to ice quickly, forming a tightly bound prison. Tom narrowed his eyes and turned the ice ropes into a slithering black snake, and with a hiss sent it to attack Dumbledore. Dumbledore merely perched an eyebrow as the monster lunged at him, and with a wave of his wand it erupted into a stream of butterflies that flew off away from him._

_"It appears that your forces are being held back by a few of my students, Tom. Ah yes, the proud Gryffindor seventh years." Albus said, noting Tom's attention to the Battle of Hogsmeade._

_"Then they will all die by my hand, you meddlesome fool! No one dares stand against Lord Voldemort." Voldemort shot a Cruciatus and a powerful Bludgeoning Hex at Dumbledore. Sidestepping the Cruciatus, Dumbledore grunted as the Bludgeoning Hex threw out his shoulder, but retaliated with a series of curses that nailed Tom, who hadn't expected them. His left hand severed - not permanently, just a simple Diffindo spell - and his mouth likely broken from the direct hit that temporarily dazed him, he sent off one last "Avada Kedavra" at the old man on the ground and gave the signal for his Death Eaters to retreat, their mission of mayhem and slaughter complete, but not as successful as Tom would have liked. He narrowed his eyes as he saw Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes swoop in to protect his Master from the deadly curse just before Tom was whisked away._

_More and more scenes erupted before Harry's eyes, going back further and further as Voldemort went from a feared terrorist to an murderer featured occasionally as a mysterious figure. The aurors no longer had looks of fear in their eyes when Voldemort revealed himself, and instead hadn't even heard of him. Finally, Harry came to view the first deadly duel that Voldemort ever fought on British soil. _

_He'd been gathering and training his Death Eaters for months now, and the first part of their mission was a success - sneak into some Muggle school and kill the filth, easy. Now, Voldemort began to implement the part of the plan that would put the fear of the unknown into the Wizarding World. He would attack the investigating Aurors. _

_He knew he'd had little practice fighting the type of skilled opponents he was likely to run into. He knew he was powerful, of course, he was the Heir of Slytherin!, but untrained. All of his Death Eaters were schoolboys with an interest in Dark Magic, not fighters. But he had a trick up his sleeve. His robe, just a piece of cloth - though he longed for one made of better, more inherently magical materials, he'd bought from Madam Malkin's, bore heavy enchantments. Modified from all sorts of protection charms, the robes were an extra layer of defense that no other wizard possessed - sheer proof of his brilliance! It was an Arithmentical nightmare, altering the spells, but he'd succeeded after years of work. And now, his cloak completed along with several Horcruxes, he knew that he was totally invincible. True, he wished he didn't need to rely on such a garment - Salazar Slytherin, his great ancestor, after all - didn't need such an artifact to be a great wizard. But he was scared - what if his Horcruxes didn't work? He couldn't die, just another nobody, his legacy a few plaques in a school in Scotland. He would live forever, and this cloak was just...a security blanket. And once he got more experience, he would shed the security blanket and show his foes that he was also the greatest sorcerer even without his many resources._

_But now, he watched the aurors. He had only two Death Eaters with him - trusted lackeys from his school days. Nott and Avery were his best duelists; Mulciber was a close third, but he had too many under his skilled Imperious Curse to lose if he was killed. Avery, particularly, was expendable, for Voldemort never liked the disagreeable child even when he was known as Tom Riddle._

_"Bloody monsters did this, I say. And did you see that skull outside, with the snake? Bright green, in the middle of a Muggle neighborhood. Prophet'll have a field day about the irresponsible DMLE. Ruddy pack of Rumormongerers. Benjy, Amelia, you two document this scene. I know its grisly, but the sooner we can clean it up and get back to the Ministry. Crouch'll be cross; that's 15 Muggles killed in Possibly Magical Circumstances this month! It'll be a record." The recognition that this was a young, unscarred Moody shook Harry from Voldemort's consciousness and he watched the attack. Voldemort thought to surprise the veteran auror - who'd seen combat towards the end of Grindelwald's war, Harry knew - but didn't count on his Constant Vigilence!_

_As Voldemort's favorite color erupted from his wand, Moody dove frantically out of the way of the curse, avoiding it by centimeters. "Benjy, Amelia, killers still present, repeat, building not secure - it's a trap!" Moody began tossing curses in the direction of his attacker. He heard noise from elsewhere in the house and knew that his Death Eaters had sprung. Avery had gone after the woman - he always liked to have his fun - and Nott the young auror. Voldemort knew from observations that the two were involved, and he considered letting the boy watch as Avery had his fun. His attention was drawn, however, to the skilled Master Auror with which he was dueling._

_The room exploding around him as Blasting Curses sent by Moody - he thought they were Blasting Curses, anyway - destroyed the walls of the school, Voldemort sent back Dark curses with equal fervor. He saw a sickly yellow Bone Shattering Curse hit the Aurors left shoulder - regrettably reparable, unlike the skull - and laughed his high, nerve-grating laugh. When Moody dared send a curse back at him while he gloated, his eyes widened as he realized his attempt to shield would come too late! He was violently knocked back by the surprisingly powerful curse that would have likely shattered his back had his cloak not protected him. Thank heavens for that wonderful cloak! He arose, quite sore, but he must appear uninjured._

_"You think such weak magic can destroy Lord Voldemort? I think not, ignorant Mudblood! Crucio!" Moody writhed in agony under Voldemort's wand. Once he let it up, he cruelly uttered, "Fiendfyre" and the familiar Fiery Basilisk erupted from his wand. The creature slowly devoured Moody's left leg as it burned it to an irreparable crisp. Voldemort growled as Moody activated an emergency portkey. He noticed the silence, and knew that the battles this day had ended._

_"My Death Eaters, how did we fare this day?" Both Avery and Nott were alive, though Avery seemed injured._

_"My Lord, the woman escaped via portkey; she was injured, but should recover. I am sorry, my Lord."_

_"The boy is dead, my Lord. My Killing Curse took his life after a pathetic struggle."_

_"Avery, I am disappointed with you. Crucio!" Voldemort smiled as his Death Eater screamed in agony - such a sweet sound - and together they Apparated away to plan their next strike._

Harry awoke with a start to the concerned face of Ginny Weasley. She was rubbing his arm, and looked like she had been for awhile. She smiled as she saw him wake up.

"Are you alright, Harry? I've been trying to wake up for dinner for ages already. Was it your scar?" She asked hesitantly. He smiled comfortingly to sooth the girl.

"No, Ginny, I was just tired, I guess. You know how those practices with Mad-Eye are, I reckon they'd leave any bloke a little weary. Thanks for waking me up - how'd you like being the first thing I see?" He flirted. She immediately reddened and smiled shyly. Definitely a crush.

"Well, Ginny, it seems that I don't have an escort for dinner. Seeing as you're a pretty girl - definitely a requirement for an escort - why don't you allow me to accompany you?" He offered his arm, which she took, as he pompously strode to dinner with a broad smile. The company of the Weasley family was exactly what he needed to recover from the constant dueling that his mind had just endured.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed that little peek into the mind of Voldemort. I have to say that it was extremely fun to write. I appreciate all your readership and reviews. Thanks, - Kevin


	4. D Alley Blues, Lunch With Sluggy

Greetings once more, friends and neighbors! I hope you all enjoy this SuperSized chapter – I really wanted to finish out the summer, but then I realized that I got to do a scene with one of my favorite characters to write – Sluggy!

As a warning, this chapter contains quite a few scenes from canon. Alas, I am not JKR, but I'm fairly certain you've all at least read and mostly own the series, so I don't think I'm spoiling anything.

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Four: D. Alley Blues, Lunch With Sluggy

Harry, muscles straining with the day's exertion, did a quick featherlight charm as he ran partly up the tree before him, launching himself back towards his attacker much faster thanks to the charm, and blasted off a curse that send Moody flying off his feet. Harry carelessly flung a disarming at the aged auror and smirked at his victory. The auror certainly had slowed down since the last rein of Voldemort – not dueling for fourteen years will do that to a body, Harry supposed. Harry, however, was in peak condition for dueling. He had spent the past week and a half dueling almost constantly, and he was finally starting to show some improvement. Since the night Tom had shared some of Voldemort's memories with him – memories that were so vivid that Harry felt as though they were his own experiences, as though he'd been the one to raise his wand and struck down countless enemies, instead of just the raw, cold knowledge he was used to – Harry had felt as though he'd had ten years of deadly combat experience. Powerful as he felt, and arrogant as he became, it seemed that experience wasn't everything.

Aiming, for instance, was another crucial skill that Harry had yet to perfect. Tom, of course, had years of target practice even before he started dueling to rely on. He could thoughtless point his wand at a target he wanted destroyed and it would be done. But relying on this muscle memory did not allow Harry, for instance, to hit the prone Moody with the _Expelliarmus_ he casually flicked away. This earned him a stout blow to the head by a curse from Moody, a brief bout with unconsciousness, a rude awakening by Moody, a lecture by Moody, and another blow to the head by Moody's wand. Moody left, scowling, leaving Harry to sleep off the effects of the morning's lesson. He walked in, told Molly to Floo him when, "that damn boy learns how to point a stick," and hobbled to the edge of the wards, where he Apparated with an angry 'pop'.

This wasn't a surprise to Harry's friends, who'd spent most of the time since he'd joined them afraid for his life – indeed, most of the time since they'd met him afraid for his life; this wasn't even an uncommon way for Moody to stop the lesson.

Harry limped into the house scowling grabbed the lunch leftovers that Mrs. Weasley had left out for him. The matronly woman smiled at Harry in encouragement, but he told her the truth. "I got arrogant, Mrs. Weasley, and I know I deserved his comments today. Thanks for lunch."

And so Harry was out by the pond shooting spells. He spelled a rock to emit different colored bouts of air – either red or yellow – in all directions at random. When he tossed the rock into the pond, different colored bubbles would erupt at random, and Harry spent a rather boring hour shooting repeated nonverbal stinging spells at the bubbles to pop the red ones. While productive and Harry did note progress with his diligent work, it could hardly be considered very fun.

Ron was the one who came up with what Harry called, "The most brilliant idea ever – I could kiss you, mate!" Ron whitened slightly, but then smiled nervously, as though questioning whether Harry actually would. Then, Ron and Ginny climbed onto their broomsticks and became Harry's moving targets for target practice. Harry cut off three more branches of a tree and stuck blocks of conjured marble onto them before performing flying charms on the branches and animating the marble, creating three more flying broomstick targets. He then charmed them all to be the color yellow except for one, which would turn red – instructed to alternate between the five targets once every two seconds or when he hit it with a spell.

Thus began the most popular game at the Burrow outside of Quidditch – Broom Hunter. The twins thought it brilliant and were developing a miniature set to sell, and Bill, Fleur, Remus, and Tonks could often be seen begging Ron, Ginny, Hermione, and Harry to be their targets. As the most agile flyers, Harry and Ginny were the two most difficult targets, and it took some time before even Harry could reliably hit the girl. Mad–Eye, upon seeing the game, insisted that he take a turn, so Ron and Harry suited up. Instead of using a paintball spell like the rest of the shooters, Mad–Eye shot Bone Breaking Curses and powerful Bludgeoning and Flinging Hexes at both the boys and the animated marble. Harry and Ron flew for their lives, but were only able to cease the madness once all three marble targets were in pieces, Ron sported a broken leg, and Harry was flung from his broom painfully. None of the living targets ever wanted to play with him again – and Ron insisted that the charmed broomsticks even seemed reluctant – and so Mad–Eye was the first one to pre–order the twins' mini game.

It was in the midst of a game of Broom Hunter on the day before Harry's birthday that Hermione gasped and shrieked. Harry turned from the targets to where Hermione was staring, but couldn't make out any impending Death Eater attack. She held out a shaking finger to the horizon and whispered, "owls…three of them." Still not understanding, she gripped his collar, pulled him barely an inch from her face, and whispered, "O.W.L. results, Harry!" Harry smiled and broke out in laughter.

"Blimey! Oh no…they're definitely owls, and headed right for us!" Ron exclaimed.

"Is that all? Really, Hermione, O.W.L.s aren't really all that important, you know." Harry teased with a smile.

"Harry, are you joking? These examinations results will determine the course of our next years at Hogwarts, not to mention the fact that they determine which N.E.W.T.s we are eligible for…" Hermione began in a practiced lecture tone.

"Not exactly true, Hermione, they only determine which classes at Hogwarts we are eligible for. We can sit any N.E.W.T. we want without taking a class for it." Hermione stopped a moment, grew broad eyed, and her face lit up with a grin.

"Oh my gosh, Harry! I think you're right! Well that means that I don't have to choose between the Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures classes; you see, of course, I wanted to stick to completing the core curriculum – Transfiguration, Charms, Defense –" Hermione started again quickly.

"Why don't we wait for the results – after all, you might not be eligible for all of your classes without the proper O.W.L.s." Hermione whitened at Harry's proclamation, and promptly shut her mouth. Ron was looking quite nervous as the three dots on the horizon approached; Harry understood his trepidation, at least – many classes required an 'E' or better and Ron was usually on the verge of A/E grades. Harry hoped his friend would qualify for all the classes he wanted.

Finally, a letter each dropped into the waiting hands of the three students. Neither Ron nor Hermione seemed anxious to retrieve their results, so Harry tore into his and looked it over. Mostly E's, not terrible. With Slughorn teaching Potions, he probably could weasel his way into the class – in fact, he was almost certain of it – but it didn't really matter that much to him. He was quite proud of his 'O' in Defense, though. He glanced at his companions, who had now torn into their letters and were staring at the results. Ron, predictably, had passed but not spectacularly, while Hermione had done very well and gotten almost all 'O's. Harry smiled and congratulated his friends on their success.

"Well, I guess that end's our thinking of being aurors though, don't it? I didn't get the Potions O.W.L., and Snape'll never let me in the class." Ron looked fairly upset. Truthfully, Harry wasn't sure that he wanted to be an auror, though besides playing professional Quidditch he couldn't think of a job he'd rather do, but he knew that he could get the Potions N.E.W.T. without the class. He also knew, however, that Slughorn would be teaching Potions this year and that he used to accept 'E' O.W.L.s for his classes. Harry was also certain that Slughorn would bend over backwards to help out Harry Potter and his friend.

"Well Ron, you never know…maybe Snape kicked the bucket and Dumbledore will replace him! Really though, if you don't get in the class, you should buy the book and ingredients anyway and study privately; you'll probably learn more than Snape's class, anyway. I'll probably be doing that myself, actually." Harry told his friend. Ron brightened considerably at this.

"Hey, yeah! And imagine the look on Snape's face when we get Potions N.E.W.T.s despite his best efforts, the greasy git." Ron's reminder of his hatred for Snape made Harry think about the man, and truthfully he was torn. It was quite possible that Snape was evil and working for Voldemort, having pulled the wool over Dumbledore's eyes for years. It was equally possible that his behavior was all an act to establish his role as a spy for the Dark Lord; this, however, didn't make sense because everyone would have suspected Snape. Though Voldemort hadn't been the master of subtlety since his early days in Hogwarts when he needed to be. Harry just didn't know, where the Potions Master was concerned. Harry decided to change the subject.

"And when we head to Diagon Alley later to get our books, I'll get each of us a special gift – part of a set, you know – commemorating this momentous occasion of not failing!" Harry had no idea what he would be getting his friends, but it sounded like a good idea – weren't people always buying their friends commemorative quills and such nonsense?

"Are we heading into the Alley? I wasn't sure Dumbledore was going to let you go…" Ron began.

"Well, I haven't been to the Alley since before my third year, so I think it's past time that I actually go there and get a complete refill on everything, you know. Plus, my robes are getting a bit small – only so much that stretching jinxes can do before you'd might as well just transfigure it entirely, you know. So yeah, I'm going to head to the Alley this year, I think. Oh, I can get myself a nice birthday present, too." Harry said.

"Oh yes, are you ready to be sixteen tonight, Harry? Have you been feeling older?" Hermione teased.

"Oh yes, actually, I think I'm past ready. I've not been feeling older yet, but I'm sure that at midnight a burst of wisdom will shoot through me, along with a five inch growth spurt and chest hair. It'll be very exciting, I'm sure." Harry joked.

"Oh just wait for seventeen, mate – I'm sure you'll get the power of Merlin handed down to you or something. Wisdom of the ages and all that." Ron laughed.

_Well, you got the knowledge of Voldemort and the wisdom of Tom, Harry…is that like a runner–up consolation prize?_ Harry rolled his eyes at Tom. He was, however, looking forward to his birthday. It would be the first time that anyone would celebrate it with him, so he thought it was pretty special. Plus, a lot of his friends from the Order would be there – even Luna, who lived so close, was coming. He did, however, fully expect Mad–Eye to attack him. Content in this knowledge, Harry went in to dinner at the Burrow and went to sleep, anticipating the first time anyone would ever commemorate his birth with anything other than an owl – besides Hagrid, that first year.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" A gaggle of people called as he descended the stairs. He dodged Mad–Eye's hex with a small head movement and smiled at the gathered crowd. Most of the entire Order was present, barring only Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was still on a top secret assignment for the Ministry.

He'd seen and been friendly with almost all of the Order members in his tenure at the Burrow – unofficial Headquarters until they moved back to Grimmauld Place, and there were no plans in the works to hurry that – and so many of them insisted on coming. Daedalus Diggle insisted on following Harry around just so that Harry could introduce him to his friends ("Harry Potter knows my name! I'm a personal friend, of course, known him longer than anyone else in the Wizarding World!"), and Hestia Jones simply insisted that Harry come to this ball or that so that she could tout him around to her high society friends; Harry gave no assurances, but smiled politely and nodded. Remus and Tonks were both there – Tonks narrowing her eyes dangerously when Hestia came over and was a bit too friendly with the werewolf – she was only a year behind him in Hogwarts, and had apparently harbored a crush for some time. After she'd quickly dragged him outside by the hand, they'd come in mussed and flustered and she was much calmer. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape were all present, also. Snape had come in behind Dumbledore, pointedly looked down at Harry, sneered, and ignored him the rest of the party. Tom did notice Snape carefully eyeing Dumbledore's withered hand, and was fairly certain that Snape was here to check on the old man's health.

"Harry! Presents!" Ron called excitedly as he tossed one at his friend's head. Harry grinned, it was from Ron, of course, and thanked his friend for the large box of Honeydukes chocolate. He received a beautiful dragon–hide wand holster from Hermione and Ginny, which he very much appreciated – "Keeping it up your sleeve, _honestly_" – and a set of handpicked Abraxan feather quills from Hagrid; such a set would normally be enormously expensive had he not gathered them on his trip with Madame Maxime last year. Hestia Jones had splurged and bought him a very chick robe – "The latest style, you know, and I think it would look lovely at this Yule Ball that Denise Fenwick is throwing this year…" – and Daedalus Diggle gave him a matching black cloak. Remus and Tonks gave him a present that definitely piqued his interest: a copy of her notes from auror combat training, along with Remus' commentary in the sidelines. Bill and Fleur, with a wink, handed Harry a package "to open with Ron later", and by the sound of moving liquid he guessed that meant Firewhiskey. Moody, to nearly everyone's surprise, took Harry's glasses off his face and left the room, citing the need to prepare his gift. He came back a few minutes later and told Harry, "Mind you don't spend too much time looking through them girls' robes, Harry," and sauntered off with a smirk. When Harry put back on his glasses, he realized that if he concentrated, he could look through barriers to see what lay behind them; including the robes of every female in the room. He blushed furiously and concentrated on wanting to see all the barriers again. Tonks, he noticed, wasn't wearing anything under her robe – lucky Remus. He denied any questions about Mad–Eye's gift and tried very hard not to meet any girl he'd just seen naked in the eye. _Hmm, Barty Crouch may just have been a total pervert…_

While present anyway, Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall handed out letters to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. Hermione, of course, obsessed over the daunting, for her, task of course selection. Ron had a far easier choice, and took Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology. As Harry opened his envelope, he was pleasantly surprised to see a badge fall out – he had been made Quidditch Captain!

"Oh, that's wonderful, Harry! You get almost all the responsibility of the Prefects now! You can even use the bathroom!" Hermione exclaimed as she saw the badge in Harry's hand.

"Oh, good thing you're focused on the important things, 'Mione!" Ron said jokingly. She reddened slightly at the nickname, but didn't correct him. Ron continued, "Well, now you can put me on the team as Keeper again, mate! Not that he'd give in to favoritism, of course, Professor…" Professor McGonagall merely quirked an eyebrow at Ron in response.

Harry grinned and focused once more on his Harry signed up for the same classes except Herbology – Tom's uncanny memory would serve him well enough for the N.E.W.T. Professor McGonagall looked disapprovingly at his sparse schedule, but kept her comments to herself. Hermione decided to enroll in the maximum number of N.E.W.T. classes, but was still having trouble deciding. Eventually, she decided to drop Care of Magical Creatures and signed up for Transfiguration, Defense, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes. Professor McGonagall smiled at her choices and said to them, "I will see you all in my class, then. Good day, and happy birthday, Potter." She turned on her heel and followed the departing Dumbledore and Snape out of the Burrow.

"That was odd, none of them barely spoke a word and then they leave before the party's over. Teachers are barking!" Ron declared, his mouth still full of cake and his speech sending it flying, and then left. Hermione rolled her eyes at him, but didn't disagree, and neither could Tom.

Having had the greatest birthday of his life, and proclaiming it many times over the course of the evening, he retired early to prepare for training with Moody and the scheduled trip to Diagon Alley. Everyone else was receiving their Hogwarts letters tomorrow, and therefore they could go before the Death Eaters might expect them to purchase their school supplies. Tom had several ideas for things that Harry needed to purchase.

_Harry, you need to make a copy of the Robe._ Tom insisted. Tom had been telling Harry for some time that Voldemort's protective cloak was an invaluable line of defense that would help Harry if he was going to fight Death Eaters.

_I don't know Tom…all of the components are really expensive_…Harry prevaricated. Tom replied, _And you just happen to have the life savings of your sacrificed parents – who'd want nothing more than for you to buy a protective device – sitting in your Gringott's vault._ Harry couldn't fault that. Not to mention the fact that the cloak would certainly lift Moody's eye in his training.

_No, Harry, you do not use the robe to train. You train without the robe, and then you are pleasantly surprised to not find yourself dead once you are actually fighting for your life while wearing the robe._ Harry admitted the reasoning was sound, and agreed to price it out to placate Tom. Tom also seemed to think that a major shopping spree in Knockturn Alley to find some reference texts on Dark rituals was in order, but Harry drew the line there.

_Tom, really! It isn't like I'm going there alone – I'm going to have like fifteen Order members watching the dressing room in Madam Malkin's alone. If they thought I was heading to Knockturn Alley, they'd probably portkey me away before I could say I was looking for a bathroom!_ Tom insisted that Harry was exaggerating. Harry knew that with his Metamorph Medal, he could likely go wherever he wanted, but he wasn't about to betray the trust of the Order and go risk his neck for stupid reasons.

Four Order members were downstairs the next morning in preparation for Harry's excursion to Diagon Alley. Moody, his magical eye spinning to get a complete view of his surroundings, nodded slightly to Harry as he emerged. Daedalus Diggle came up and excitedly shook Harry's hand. Remus smiled and winked, and Tonks saluted and said, "Auror Tonks, on special assignment from the Ministry, reporting for duty to protect 'the Chosen One' from unfriendly shopkeepers and over–exuberant fangirls. One question, sir." Harry nodded for her to ask, "Just how exuberant is over–exuberant?"

"Just try to keep their skivvies away from me, Tonks. Also, excessive tongue should be controlled." Harry actually looked at Tonks for a moment, "Uh, Tonks, seriously…do you really think I'll need a bodyguard, or is this just precautionary?" She smiled softly at him.

"I don't know Harry, this year the paper's been on your side and proclaiming you the Savior of the Wizarding World. Not to mention the fact that you haven't been out in public in three years. I hope it's just precautionary, but Minister Scrimgeour seems very interested in having you protected and on the Ministry's side." Harry snorted, "Yeah, decent auror, but he always did let politics get in the way." Everyone stopped and stared at him oddly.

"Oh…uh…Dumbledore told me about him…you know, about Barty Crouch Jr. and when his dad was the Head of the DMLE…" Everyone nodded at this – his Occlumency was more than sufficient to lie believably, after all, and Harry berated himself for his slip–up.

"Well, everyone ready for a trip to the Alley? How are we getting there?" Harry asked brightly.

"Floo. Listen up, Harry. It is possible to abduct someone on a Floo trip; watch for grabbing arms while traveling, and be sure to avoid them. Keep your arms and legs tight against you, and be certain that you arrive at the right place. This will be the only time you don't have direct protection, so it's possibly the vulnerable point in the trip. Let's go, I'll be in the Alley waiting for you. Diagon Alley." Moody grunted and disappeared in the green flames. Harry stepped up, shouted "Diagon Alley", and stepped through without a problem. Moody had his wand in hand pointing out his sleeve, and grabbed his arm, eye spinning wildly. He whispered, "Looks clear. Get your hood up and follow me." They sat in a booth in a darkened corner of the Leaky Cauldron until the entire group materialized, and then they entered the Alley through the wall in the back together.

Where once the Alley was bright with shop fronts full of their wares and packed with wizards and witches excitedly spending the day shopping, it was now desolate and deserted. Any wizards present – and without the traffic likely to come from Hogwarts students, there were few indeed – hurriedly bustled about their business and did not stop to loiter on the street. It was for Harry a very real reminder that the world was at war. Wanted posters of the escaped Death Eaters littered the windows of many shops – Bellatrix Lestrange's face deformed by insane laughter – Dementor attacks on Muggles and Muggle–born areas occurred daily; prominent wizards and witches, even those with the full protection of the DMLE at the Ministry like Amelia Bones, were in very real danger unless they were Death Eaters. It was not a time to trust strange wizards on the street; that was a death sentence. And so, a somber feeling permeated the Alley – a feeling of fear and distrust.

It was a small child that first revealed his presence to the greater Alley. "Mum, mum, it's Harry Potter!" The mother turned in shock to find, indeed, the Wizarding World's Savior standing just behind her. Harry smiled at the young girl.

"Hi there, I'm Harry. What's your name?"

"Cecelia. Is you really going to get rid of You–Know–'Oo?" She asked with a London accent.

"Well, I don't know about all that, but I'm sure there's no need to be scared of him now. If he attacks, he'd ignore you to get to me, anyway!" Harry joked lightly. Even Moody grunted in amusement – it was likely true, after all. With a last smile he sent the girl off.

"Wizarding World's Savior, honestly! The Wizarding World wouldn't need a savior if they bought back against the Death Eaters; its their own fault!" Hermione was quite adamant about this, as she saw it merely as a game of numbers – thousands of wizards versus at most a hundred Death Eaters. Tom pointed out that she might have a point, except that most wizards have things they want to protect, and it is fear that is Voldemort's deadliest weapon.

"Ah, but it is so much easier to ignore the general state of things and continue about your day, hoping to keep those you love safe. It is a choice between what is right and what is easy." Hermione looked at him oddly, and said, "You sounded just like Dumbledore there for a moment, Harry…" Harry smiled and told her, "Because I quoted him." Which he had, to an extent.

"Always a good idear, If yeh ask meh!" A familiar half–giant called to him. Harry greeted Hagrid warmly and thanked him for his extravagant birthday present.

"Ah, it was nothin', just spares from Olympe's horsies. Blimey, they were jus' gorgeous creatures, eh?" Everyone agreed.

"Well, I'm here to be yer guard! Jus' like ol' times, eh Harry? Blimey, you was so small I coulda' put yeh in me pocket!" Harry ignored the fact that Hagrid very likely could still pick him up and fit him in a pocket and just smiled at his oldest friend. They rejoined the main group, but split off again to hit different stores. Mad–Eye, Remus, and Tonks headed off with Molly and Ginny elsewhere while Hagrid and Daedalus stayed with Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

Madam Malkin's was Harry's first stop – Mrs. Weasley insisted that both he and Ron had Stretching Jinxes put on them to make them grow so quickly; the girls were growing in different directions, but needed new robes all the same.

Four black school robes, two grey work robes, two lounge robes, a handsome set of black formal dress robes, one wizard hat in black and another in grey, three sets of pajamas, two new pairs of dragonhide boots, and a complete wardrobe of shirts, pants, socks, underwear, and other "Muggle–style" clothing later, Harry found himself swearing off clothes shopping for the end of his days. Tom had absolutely insisted on a completely new wardrobe, refusing to allow Harry to dress like a drunk bum when he was the Head of two noble Houses. Tom wanted him to burn all of his old clothes, but Harry gave them to Madam Malkin for the less fortunate incoming Hogwarts students. The experiences from both Harry's and Tom's backgrounds made him feel quite good about this, and Mrs. Weasley would later give him a hug and proclaim him, "such a generous, sweet boy."

Harry found his congratulatory O.W.L. gifts for Ron, Hermione, and himself in the form of three very beautiful and extravagant cloaks. A deep royal navy that was especially fetching with Ron's hair, the fastenings were all of silver phoenixes and Harry bought them all price unseen, despite numerous objections. He finally pulled Madam Malkin aside and placed an order for a very special set of robes. "It is a complicated weave of materials: exactly 20 wool cloth, 20 silk, black, 30 Swedish Short–Snout dragonhide (for a blue shimmer to the robe that would match his new cloak…), and 30 Demiguise hair. I will also need four spools of Unicorn Hair Thread."

"Well, Mr. Potter, that is certainly an interesting set of ceremonial robes, but it will be costly. I'm going to have to charge you 300 galleons, and that's doing you a favor." Harry smiled at her, saying, "That will be wonderful, just charge it to my vault. Your servant, Madam." As he was about to walk out, Harry heard a voice come from the mirrored platform that made him pause.

"Watch where you're sticking that pin, you bumbling oaf!" Madam Malkin bustled off to the blond boy giving her assistant so much trouble and took over. Draco was standing being measured in a handsome set of dark green robes; pins glistened from the many alterations needed around the hems and sleeve edges. He noticed Harry in the mirror and spun to face him, grey eyes flashing and narrowed.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Golden Boy Potter, deigning to grace us all with his presence today." He began in a drawl as he walked off the platform.

"Draco, I do hope you're well. That robe suits you handsomely." Draco took a step back in shock and Harry heard Ron's jaw drop as he and Hermione came up behind Harry. "Wha–" Ron started.

"Ugh, I thought I smelled something dirty, I should have known – Mudblood." Draco sneered as his mother and Madam Malkin came up to him; Malkin was attempting to finish the measurements and get him out of her store as soon as possible, but Draco's moving was causing problems.

"Now really, there is no need for that kind of language –" Malkin began. Ron had started to draw his wand, but Harry grabbed his wrist, turned and winked at him, so he put it away with a questioning stare on his face. He gave a smile to Hermione, who also appeared skeptical of this new control of his temper. With his Occlumency along with an absence of Voldemort in his head, it really was quite easy to control his temper.

"If you attempt to attack my son, I shall ensure it the last thing you do, boy." Narcissa said haughtily to Ron.

"Narcissa! How wonderful to see you again, ma'am." Harry smiled as she quirked an eyebrow and scowled.

"I don't know whether or not you've heard," he started again, "but I've been named the Head of your family." She scowled more deeply and replied, "Yes, I do believe I heard that that wretched cousin somehow managed to usurp the ancient magics and pass the Head onto a non–relative, and a Mudblood at that." She said nastily. Harry gave a false gasp of shock, ignoring the quip at his beloved godfather.

"A non–relative? Surely, Narcissa, you realize that not even dearly departed Sirius, may his soul rest in peace, though a powerful wizard he was, could have broken those ancient magics. Why, he merely named a more distant claim superior when he named me Head. After all, my grandmother was Dorea Potter nee Black. I'm surprised at you, Narcissa, everyone knows that the Blacks are related to all of the old Ancient and Noble Pureblood families like the Potters." Harry said pleasantly. He knew from looking into her eyes that Narcissa knew this, but didn't know that Harry knew.

"Yes, of course. Since your grandfather, though a blood traitor, was a Pureblood, Dorea would never have been blasted off the tapestry and disowned…" She seemed to be thinking very hard.

"Of course, of course. Well, we must be off, we've a very busy day of shopping ahead of us. Cousins…" Harry _knew_ that last remark of "cousins" would leave Draco seething. In fact, he was quite sure that was the first time he'd ever come out on top in verbal sparring with the Slytherin. Hermione was bursting at the seams when they left the shop.

"Oh, Harry, that was just _brilliant_!" She gushed and hugged him close. Harry just smirked with success, but the hug brought on the monster of jealousy from Ron, who clearly didn't understand what had transpired.

"What's so great about that? You let them insult you and Hermione and Sirius, and you just smiled and walked away!" Ron sounded very much like he wanted nothing more than to curse Draco so that he wouldn't have been able to walk away.

"Ah, but what was the purpose of his taunts, Ron?"

"To be a stuck–up prick like usual."

"Possibly, but quite a bit more likely to rile our tempers and get us to curse him; he would then bear witness in front of the Wizengamot and voila, we're expelled and our wands snapped. However, knowing that I couldn't curse the stuffing out of him, I beat him at his own game. What is Malfoy's worst fear? Losing the prestige of his family, I'd bet. So I let him know that I, a dirty rotten Mudblood, am the Head of his mother's family; with his dad in Azkaban, I'd bet I could pull some strings and have her and him pulled from the Malfoy family and take their wealth. It'd be way too much of a pain in the arse to do it, but I could, and he knows it." Ron almost seemed to follow Harry, and smiled at the thought of stealing Malfoy's money. Harry then noticed the empty ice cream store and wand shop. When questioned, Ron shook his head sadly.

"Yeah, I heard dad talking about it – both of them just up and disappeared one night during the shift change. All alone in the Alley, just the two of them, and then, quick as you like, both gone." Harry narrowed his eyes in thought – more pieces for this increasingly complex puzzle.

_What is Voldemort doing? Two shop owners? Is it really just random attacks? Practice for a larger assault on the Alley?_ He conversed to himself.

_I am not convinced, Harry. I would suspect they were taken for a reason._ Tom added.

_But what does Voldemort need with an ice cream salesman and a wand maker? His wand is already very powerful, Ollivander himself told me it was one of the most powerful he'd ever made!_ Harry would consider this later – he needed to keep himself aware of his surroundings for now. Constant Vigilance.

The three bought all of their books for the new classes – Harry and Ron both purchasing the required Potions text and Harry buying another book on Potions ingredients and preparations specifically. That book was given to all beginning Slytherins and was one reason they all had such a firm grasp on the subject; Tom was probably just barely a Potions Master – it was one of his weaker subjects – but was quite well versed in poisons; likely better than any but Snape, who was a prodigy. Harry intended to give the book to Ron to better his friend's skills. Ron questioned why Harry didn't spend much time in the Defense section, but Harry knew that almost all of the texts were quite amateurish, and no book except a special order could teach Tom anything new. They all picked up their potions ingredients – Harry a deluxe set featuring much greater quantities than he would need for mere classroom work – at the nearest apothecary and then bought owl pellets at the Owl Emporium, all the while making their way to Fred and George's shop.

Whereas the other shops of Diagon Alley were austere and decidedly sober, Fred and George's shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, was anything but. This was the only place in the alley where passerbys stopped to take a second look at the shop, which managed to clash with itself. The left window was filled with popping, whirling, steaming, screaming devices and fireworks erupted in it every few moments. The right window had but one poster with an enormous purple and flashing yellow poster reading:

_Why are you worrying about_

_You–Know–Who?_

_You should be worrying about _

_U–No–Poo – _

_The Constipation Sensation_

_That's gripping the nation!_

Harry couldn't help but first chuckle and then laugh softly at the twins. If Voldemort saw this sign…Harry would very much have liked to see the Dark Lord's face when and if he does…

"They'll be murdered in their beds!" Hermione whispered frantically, looking pale as she glanced around as though searching for Death Eaters.

"Nah, I'm sure ol' Voldi would think its hilarious!" She looked at him as though he were crazy; of course, most people with voices in their head _are_ crazy, so by standard definitions this was an appropriate look. He merely grinned and opened the door, gesturing her inside with a flourish of his hand. Both Hagrid and Daedalus looked excited to enter the shop. It was packed with customers – another first for the Alley – and Harry was once again forced to question just how smart the twins really were; not to mention shrewd…they'd have made perfect Slytherins, according to Tom.

Harry walked past display after display, touting Skiving Snackboxes that he well remembered from the Hogwarts common room, Nosebleed Nougat was popular – he wondered if should send a box to Katie Bell in memory of her time on the Quidditch Pitch last year – grinning, he picked up a box. Trick wands, charmed quills, and a reusable hangman that drew a younger crowd were all past as he made his way admiringly around the shop. He found Hermione analyzing the "Patented Daydream Charms". She looked critically at what must have been some details and came to the conclusion, as did Harry, that it was a complicated bit of magic; indeed, he wondered at how they overcame the Arithmentical difficulties inherent with preferences – it would be easy to make everyone see the same thing, but people often wanted_very_ different things in their fantasies. He only knew of a few tricks to do that even with years of Arithmancy; he once again reconsidered their brilliance.

"You know, that really is rather extraordinary magic!" She said distractedly, probably pondering the Arithmancy.

"For that compliment, dear Hermione, you get one on us!" Fred and George somehow appeared behind her, and she smiled in greeting. They wore matching magenta robes that clashed perfectly with their hair and complexion. Harry smiled at them and smacked their shoulders in greeting.

"Come on Harry, we've got some stuff to show you." The twins led him to the back, where he passed a display of Muggle magic tricks.

"We figure dad can't be alone in liking Muggle stuff, huh? It's a niche market, but we do steady business. Come through the back, Harry, that's where the real galleons are pressed." They proceeded further past a thin curtain beside the Muggle tricks to reveal a set of products with less flashy packaging. At first glance, they looked to be regular cloaks, gloves, and hats in a clothing store, even if they were all black; but the raised hair on the back of Harry's neck gave him the suspicion of enchantments.

"These," George began proudly with the hats, "are Shield Hats. You'd be amazed at how many employees at the Ministry can't even do a proper Shield Charm – guess they didn't have you teaching 'em, mate. Fred and I thought it'd be a laugh, you know, watch your friends jinx you and have it bounce back at 'em; the Ministry saw the idea and straight away ordered five hundred of 'em for all their support staff! They liked the Shield Cloaks even more, and we had to make a batch in Auror Red! We ran with the idea and developed a whole Defense line – these gloves are new, see? And this stuff's cool, Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder – handy for an escape." Fred picked up where his twin left off by pointing to another few shelves filled with three–pronged balls that were sort of vibrating off the shelves.

"Are those cloaks wool?" Harry asked abruptly.

"Uh…no, they're just broadcloth." George said questioningly.

"You'll get better luck with wool. Shielding charm seems to stick better to wool." Harry offered no explanation for his knowledge and, seeing that this would be the case, George merely nodded thoughtfully and pulled out a small notebook and wrote it down.

"And our Decoy Detonators are walking off the shelves – literally, we've had a few explosions – drop one and it'll run off to make a distraction." Fred must have seen the interested glint in Harry's eyes, for he shoved a handful into Harry's arms. Harry reached for his gold purse, but was stopped by George.

"No way, Harry, you don't pay for anything here," George began as he noticed. Harry used a bit of wandless levitation to plant ten galleons into the twins' own money pouch without him noticing, "You gave us our startup loan and we'll never forget it. Take what you want." George finished.

"Thanks guys." He perused the section more as a girl with short blonde hair and magenta employee robes called the twins away. He performed several Undetectable Extension Charms on some bags and filled it up with ten galleons worth of Detonators and bags of Instant Darkness Powder.

Harry exited the room to see that Mrs. Weasley and her group had joined them in the shop. Ginny was with Hermione looking at the WonderWitch display – a gross line of pink–boxed items – and Pygmy Puffs, whatever those were. He was standing near Ron and the windows when he noticed Draco Malfoy hurrying down the Alley, glancing frequently over his shoulder.

"Look, Ron, its Malfoy."

"Looks like he's lost his mum; given her the slip, more like…" Ron glanced at Harry, who nodded wordlessly as they slipped underneath his Invisibility Cloak – which he carried with him constantly, on Dumbledore's orders – and followed Malfoy. The twins had sequestered Moody to critique their Defense line, so he was no threat, and the rest of the Order – even Diggle and Hagrid outside – were oblivious to their presence thanks to Harry's wandless Silencing Charms.

Malfoy, predictably, headed right for Knockturn Alley, Harry and Ron close behind. Knockturn Alley was even more deserted than most of Diagon Alley; these were dark times, and any time spent in shady company was bound to arouse suspicion. The pompous blonde entered Borgin and Burke's, and the boys entered right behind him; Tom knew well every ward and charm on the shop's door, and it was less than simple to arrive unnoticed.

"I need to repair the Vanishing Cabinet that matches the one in your shop." He said shortly.

"Is that so? I had thought it lost." Borgin began slowly.

"Well I found it! But it's broken, so do you know how to fix it?" Draco continued impatiently.

"Possibly," Borgin wavered, "But I'd need to see it. Can you bring it here?"

"No. It has to stay put. You just tell me how to do it." Malfoy said, drawing a hard line. He obviously thought he was in charge, but Tom's intimate knowledge of Borgin – who was merely a less talented clone of his father – told him that Borgin knew who had the upper hand here.

"Well without seeing it, Master Malfoy, it will be a most challenging job. Perhaps impossible. I certainly couldn't guarantee you anything." Harry, staring harshly into Draco's eyes, saw his thoughts, though Draco had apparently studied some Occlumency – Bella's doing, Tom added.

_No, must work…save family…last chance_. Draco's thoughts were muddled slightly as he tried to drive them from his mind.

"Well maybe this will show you the price of failure!" Drawing up his sleeve, Harry put silencing charms all around Ron, and the redhead swore when he saw the Dark Mark clearly visible on Draco's left arm. Borgin paled slightly; Tom had some satisfaction in learning that the mere shopkeeper still kept proper fear of the Dark Lord – Voldemort had never liked Borgin.

"Fenrir Greyback will be dropping in to check on your progress. Oh, and tell anyone and he'll be coming hungry. He's a family friend. I'll be off now, be sure to keep _that_ one safe," Malfoy motioned to the Cabinet in the shop.

"Perhaps you'd like to take it with you now?" Borgin said as he licked his lips.

"No, you stupid little man, how do you think I would look, carrying that down the Alley. I'll be in touch, Borgin." Malfoy pulled his cloak tight around him, stopping only to look closely at an exquisite opal necklace for a few moments, and then walked out of the shop. Harry, once again performing charms to make them unnoticed, followed him out, dragging Ron along. He went to a deserted corner and lifted the silencing charms from Ron when Draco was out of hearing range.

"Did you see that, Harry! The bloody Dark Mark! He's –" Ron started before Harry shut him up.

"Yes, I did, Ron. And we're keeping this to ourselves, only telling Hermione. All of this, don't tell a soul! And especially don't let Malfoy know what you know! His plans might change, and then we'll have no idea how to stop him." Ron initially looked outraged, but then the light of recognition hit his eyes and he grinned ferociously.

"Yeah…yeah, he'll think his plans going off perfect, and then '_wham!'_ we're all ready for him!" Ron seemed very excited at the thought at ruining Malfoy's plan.

"Exactly, Ron. But you have to let on like you don't know anything – if he suspects it's a bust, we're ruined." Ron distractedly muttered, "Of course" and they slipped back under the cloak and inside the Weasleys' shop, where the 'reappeared'.

"There you two are! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Hermione grabbed Ron's arm.

"Oh well, we've been here," Ron started, but Hermione looked firm. Harry whispered, "We'll tell you in private." And she looked skeptical but nodded.

Shopping trip completed, they made their way back to Tom at the Leaky Cauldron, where Harry insisted on buying lunch for everyone in thanks – Tom looked decidedly brighter at this announcement, for his business was as slow as the Alley's.

Returning to the Burrow, Hermione immediately cornered the boys in Harry's room.

"So, spill. Where were you?" She demanded.

"We followed Malfoy into Knockturn Alley. Borgin and Burke's, to be specific…" Harry told her all about their trip and discoveries, and she was quite the appreciative audience, gasping in all the right places. When Ron informed her of _his_ plan to keep their knowledge secret and foil his plans without Draco knowing, she looked at him in a rather hungry manner, Harry thought.

"Oh Ron, that's brilliant! I'm so glad you're finally getting control of your temper – really, using your temper is much more effective when you execute a plan!" She said as she hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek. Ron blushed furiously, as did Hermione, but they both wore dopey grins the rest of the day. Harry called them together to contemplate Voldemort's plans, as he was stuck, himself.

"So what does Voldemort want?" Harry asked, pacing.

"The Wizarding World, mate." Harry stopped at this, considering. He then nodded and added to it.

"And he wants it forever." Ron and Hermione seemed confused – Harry had no way to know about Horcruxes yet, so he hadn't told them.

"Now, I'm not a real threat to him taking over the world – I have no political power or anything like that, only Dumbledore does." Harry's eyes widened. That was it. Voldemort had two goals, and one barrier to each of them. Dumbledore was a powerful political figure; the prophecy stated Harry's death as the key to Voldemort's immortality. Right now, Voldemort was ignoring Harry, who had proved troublesome over the past few years, and was going after Dumbledore and the government.

"Dumbledore? I thought he was the only one You–Know–Who was afraid of?" Ron said confused. Voldemort was going after Dumbledore, and Dumbledore, if Harry's suspicions about the nature of the curse affecting him were correct as he feared they were, had already signed his own death warrant.

"Everyone has to face their fears eventually, Ron. We just have to be ready for when he does." Harry said ominously. Ron and Hermione looked fearful, but Harry set his jaw and looked determined. He resigned himself to the eventually that both he and Tom knew, and he feared: Dumbledore would fall, likely from the curse, and Harry would be all that was left between Voldemort and the Wizarding World. Now all Harry had to do was figure out where the heck Malfoy had a Vanishing Cabinet and how that fit into the puzzle.

Harry spent the entire month of August training. Moody, Tonks, Fleur, Remus, and Bill all had great fun taking turns teaching Harry – even Professor McGonagall showed up one afternoon and, over tea, discussed some improvements he could have made to his transfigurations, which she complemented him on, and mentioned additional ways he could implement transfiguration in duel.

"In an empty yard like this, for instance, Transfiguration plays a lesser role for the amateur, due to the need to conjure up base materials with which to work. However, in a theater such as a cluttered room, the transfigurationist truly begins to shine. Tables, when given jaws, sharp claws, and animated to attack the opponent, provide crucial distractions as well as damaging your opponent. Other materials provide cover for you as needed, protecting even from the otherwise unstoppable Killing Curse. I have been impressed with your progress, Potter, and hope that it continues in the classroom." He gave her an easy smile to reassure her – it must have been quite reminiscent of her favorite student James Potter, because she even returned a small grin to him – and she made her excuses to leave.

Moody, or Alastor, as he insisted his young protégé call him, was the ringleader of it all. Indeed, he seemed to act the proud father to Harry at times, grinning madly as Order members commented on Harry's amazing progress. When the Order attempted to surprise Harry by sneaking into the Burrow at night to attack him, they instead found themselves having to break down wards and dodging cover as Harry flung spells expertly; Harry would swear the next morning that Alastor had tears of joy rolling down his cheeks. Integrating Tom's skills and dueling tactics, while time–consuming, had turned Harry into a fearsome opponent; he could hold his own and even occasionally get the best of Moody. The crafty old auror almost always had tricks up his sleeve for when he was finally bested, but this time, the day before Harry would board the Hogwarts Express, Harry was determined to win.

"_Bombarda_!" Harry forcefully barreled down Moody's _Absolvo_ shield with an impressive display of magical might; that was one area where Harry found that he eventually overtook the old auror in early August. Moody flung a curse back at Harry – a Bone Shattering Curse, Moody held no punches – but Harry batted it aside as easily as one might an annoying fly, a trick learned from Voldemort that Moody was initially floored to see. Harry silently sent a few hexes to keep Moody on his toes, but when the familiar _Imprimis_ shield rose to block Harry's Bludgeoning Hex with a 'gong', Harry pulled his ace.

"_Telum Conicio_!" A bolt of red tore from Harry's wand and rushed to impact the shield – Harry didn't wait for it to connect as he shot off a neon blue spell, "_Soporo!_" that he knew Moody had never seen before, as he'd finished work on it that morning. The red bolt of light, when it went partially through the _Imprimis_ shield, turned into a steaming railroad spike that rendered the shield useless, clearing the way for Harry's blue spell. When it hit Moody, the auror dropped unconscious, and Harry began to strip his body of unknown gadgetry, starting with his wand. Moody often spelled contingencies – extremely tricky little spells – that would kill his opponent if, in fact, he was killed. Harry smirked as he felt the wards pop up around the body, and viciously overloaded them as he channeled energy through his wand at the protective circle. He broke through, cracking the stone on a new necklace he'd noticed around Alastor's neck, and tore the chain off his neck, sending it flying into the pond. Revealing spells led him to tear off a few rings and a circlet that Moody claimed held his hair out of his eyes. Activating his charmed glasses to see through barriers, he smirked as he removed a nondescript rock from Moody's underwear – it had been this that caught him last time, when he'd been unwilling to perform a thorough enough search on his grizzled teacher; live and learn. After several more complex revealing spells ended by the potent _Specialis Revelio_, Harry determined that, if the veteran auror had somehow hidden an enchanted item, he had no idea how he did it. Sighing in preparation for another unexpected painful lesson, Harry bound his teacher in powerful black magic vines and put him in the full body curse with a_Conligo Totalus_, and finally awakened him from Harry's personal stunning modification. He employed it often on Moody because the auror had, astonishingly, become nearly immune to the standard stunning spell. After being knocked to the ground and unconscious for a few seconds, the he would awaken to curse Harry right back when he least expected it. Upon awakening, the auror screwed his eyes up slightly, his magical eye spinning crazily to take stock of his situation. Then, after another moment attempting to struggle against the curses that held him tightly bound, he grinned.

"Excellent work, Harry! I accept defeat at the hands of a well–prepared enemy. Now lift these damned curses." Moody ended gruffly. Harry grinned, removing the bonds but keeping him under the Full Body Bind.

"Know that if you were an enemy, I wouldn't have woken you up in the first place." Harry said cruelly. Moody nodded. When the curse was let up he grinned and went up to Harry with his arm extended. Harry shook his hand; Moody attempted to force Harry to the ground, but Harry's weeks of training had paid off and he kept standing.

"Very good, Harry. I'm so proud of you." Moody hugged the boy tightly. Harry felt slightly awkward in the embrace, but hugged Moody back.

"Really, Harry, I'm serious. I was hard on you this summer, but you rose to the challenge like I'd never imagined. If you had a mind to, you could duel almost every auror to the floor; dueling isn't Tonks' specialty, but you've been besting her for weeks now, and just the other day you drew even against both her and Remus. Harry, you have a real talent for this, and it was a joy to teach you." Harry could have actually believed that Moody had been teary–eyed. Moody led them both back into the Burrow, where he led Harry to a sheet covering a round object.

"I got something for you, since you completed your training with me. It's a Foe–Glass, I know you know how they work. Anyway, I thought you might like it." Moody said.

"Thanks, Alastor, I really appreciate it, it's very generous of you." Looking into the glass, he saw a large crowd of faces – well, no new information, but not exactly spirit–lifting.

"Crowded in there, eh, boy? Don't worry, you'll pull through just fine, I think. Good luck at school – give a kick to those little mini–Death Eaters from me!" Moody called with a fierce grin as he left the Burrow. Despite feeling that he'd be much less sore every day without the influence of the clinically insane ex–auror, Harry found that he'd miss his time spent with Alastor. _The insane stick together, after all_, Harry thought wryly. Shaking his head in mirth, he carried his new Foe Glass upstairs to his trunk. He'd began going through yesterday, discarding old parchments and broken quills. When he came to the broken two–way mirror, a quick _Reparo_ with as much magic channeled into it as he could manage repaired the mirror to its unblemished state. He laid it reverently with several of his other items. A quick _scourgify_ and the trunk was like brand new on the inside; the outside was still battered from years of Harry's use and abuse.

With so many new clothes, Harry decided to just expand his trunk magically to make more room. He ended up with three sections: Robes, Muggle clothes, and everything else. His magical items, like the two–way mirror from Sirius, the fanged wallet from Hagrid, the Pocket Sneakoscope Ron gave him before his third year, and his selection of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes joined the massive collection of textbooks he'd collected – which he organized with a shelf in his expanded trunk. The photo album of his parents received a reverent placement on the end, while his school textbooks were placed according to year.

"Harry, you really should start packing, you know, no need to leave it all for tom – oh, right…guess you already started, then." Hermione looked sheepish as Harry prevented one of her lectures.

"Yeah, I'm all set…but I reckon Ron could use some help going through his shorts, eh?" Harry joked; Hermione blushed and rolled her eyes, walking out of the room muttering.

Turning back to his trunk, he nicely folded his robes and placed them inside next. His green dress robes he'd transfigured to fit him again – they really did match his eyes – and were laid next to his new dress robes. Underneath his grey work robes – he'd kept several from the previous year as well for a total of four – lay the special "ceremonial" robes prepared for him by Madam Malkin. A shimmering black with just a tinge of blue from the dragon hide, the robes were quite majestic. Harry reflected back on the day he'd finished the protective enchantments on the robe.

He'd done some practice work on the three matching cloaks, fortifying them with only the equivalent of a _Fortis Aegis_ shield and returning them to his friends, but this robe was his masterpiece, with many enchantments laid upon it. He began with the most basic protective elements and worked his way upward. Tying the spells to runes he wove with the Unicorn hair thread made them essentially permanent. _Salvio Hexia_, _Cave Inimicum_, _Protego Totalum_, and _Protego Horribilis_ formed the first layer of spells, followed by _Impervius_,_Animadversio Amplifico_, the Supersensory Charm that would allow him to better sense his surroundings, and a Cushioning Charm, should he ever be tossed around; Harry also enlarged the pockets of the robe at this stage. The most powerful layer was an _Absolvo Ancile_ shield that was tied directly to the power rune Uruz; this setup, while not as traditional as tying it to the classic defensive rune Thurisaz, was experimented with by Tom and found to increase the power and lifetime of the enchantments significantly. Harry was completely exhausted by the time he'd finished, and ended up retiring to bed just after dinner.

Harry finished putting all of the clothes away just in time for Ron and Ginny to pull him away for a final game of Quidditch before they left for Platform 9 ¾ the next morning.

The next morning, a crowd gathered outside the Burrow as everyone waited for the Ministry cars – Harry was in their good graces again – to show up. Trunks and pets lay in front of the students and were quickly loaded by the auror escorts after the two black cars arrived.

"Au revoir, 'Arry! 'Ave a good term!" Fleur told him, kissing him on the cheeks; he smiled and hugged her back before climbing into the car with Hermione. Ron dreamily drifted towards Fleur to get his own kiss before Ginny tripped him and shoved him into the car.

"Quick, quick, through the barrier!" Mrs. Weasley hissed as they pulled up to the crowded Muggle station. Harry was on full alert in case of an attack – Tom thought that it was quite an attractive target for Voldemort, of course – but they made it through the barrier without any incident besides one auror grabbing Harry's arm. Harry gave him one of Tom's coldest glare before fixing his shirt and hauling his trunk onto the train. He came back out to say goodbye to Mrs. Weasley, who smothered him in a hug.

"Oh, you take care, Harry dear. You'll come home with us for Christmas, so we'll see you quite soon." Harry smiled and nodded at the smothering woman, retreating to the train as she said farewell to her own children.

"You'll save us a seat in your compartment, won't you Harry? Ron and I have a Prefect meeting to be at…" Hermione looked apologetic, but Harry just smiled and reassured her that he'd find a compartment for them all. Since they'd arrive fairly early, he found an empty one and dragged the three trunks he assumed responsibility for into the compartment with him. A silent _Reducio_ made his own trunk small enough for him to shove into his pocket, which he did, and then lightened Ron and Hermione's before lifting them into the overhead luggage rack. It was Tom's advice that he integrate more magic into his everyday activities so that his reserve of magic wouldn't atrophy, and Harry was beginning to appreciate the convenience of it.

He greeted many of the D.A. members as they passed, and most returned the greeting brightly; one, however, made him concerned.

"Hey Katie," he called to the pretty blonde Gryffindor Chaser. She looked up at him and, quite frankly, she looked terrible. Her face had a rather gaunt look to it, as though she hadn't been eating properly; her eyes were bright with recent tears, and he was forlornly dragging her trunk behind her.

"Hi, Harry. Is this compartment free? I've no one to sit with…" Harry opened the door with a flourish and helped his teammate with her trunk. When she sat down, he took the seat next to her and, drawing on Tom's charisma to help him, he attempted to comfort the girl. Placing an arm on her shoulder, he asked in a gentle voice, "So Katie, what's the matter? What happened?" Her eyes watered with fresh tears.

"Well, Harry…its just…there was an attack." Harry's face fell – how was he supposed to comfort someone over the death of a loved one; well, he supposed he had personal experience to draw on…

"I was visiting my dad's parents with my mum – she was a Pureblood, but my dad's sister was getting married and she and I were going to be Bridesmaids. Anyway, we were in an all Muggle area, and then there was an attack." Harry rubbed the girl's back gently in an attempt to soothe her.

"Well, they were just Muggles, you know? They couldn't possibly have fought back. So mum and I, we draw our wands and start shooting back; mum wasn't bad with a wand, but thanks to the D.A. I was a lot better than her...which was surprising, you know? Well, it was awful – the Death Eaters all focused on us once they realized we were shooting back. Mum got hit by a Killing Curse. It was the Underage Wizardry garbage that saved me, odd enough; they saw Dark magic around an Underage witch – I didn't turn 17 until August, and this was the end of June – and they sent out some aurors to arrest me or something. Well they ended up calling in a bunch of aurors, and the Death Eaters ran off. The Obliviators come in to deal with the Muggles and this nice brown haired auror takes me to the Ministry to ask what happened. My dad's whole family was killed, along with my mum...I – I'm lucky to be alive. I shouldn't be alive, really...I'm certainly not a better witch than my mum..." Tears overtook Katie again as Harry pulled her into a full hug as she cried on his shoulder.

"It's okay, Katie, it'll be alright. I know its hard to deal with. I lost my godfather in June, too, when Death Eaters killed him. For a long time I thought about nothing but getting back at them, hurting them like they hurt me...I was in a bad place. But I realized that Sirius would've wanted me to enjoy life, live to the fullest, you know? He would have wanted me to snog a bunch of girls and play a bunch of pranks on Snape, so I have to live for him." Katie had stopped crying now and Harry was just rubbing her hand, sitting next to her.

"I...I decided that I want to be an auror, Harry, after the attack." Harry's eyes hardened.

"Is this about revenge? The Death Eaters, most of them, are crazy, Katie – even if you kill their wives or children, they wouldn't care." This was certainly true in Bellatrix's case, though she might regret Rodolphus' death, she certainly wouldn't be torn over it; however, most Death Eaters were human, as Tom well knew.

"No, its just...that nice auror, she helped me so much, and I'd like to help others out like that. I've always been good at school, and I think I can get the N.E.W.T.s if I work hard enough." Katie had a steely resolve in her eyes, and Harry smiled kindly at her.

"You know, I've thought about becoming an auror myself; why don't we do a bit of training together, you know...a little bit of dueling, reading about what exactly aurors do...maybe some Potions work or something..." Harry didn't want to just work on dueling because he knew he was far above the girl, but felt that she could use a friend right now.

"I'd really like that, thanks Harry." She had brightened considerably, and when she looked down at Harry's hand, still rubbing hers comfortingly, he just smirked and slowly removed it, keeping his other arm on her shoulder and back. The two began to relax, Katie borrowing Harry's _Practical Defensive Magic_ and Harry taking a brief look at his new _Advanced Potion Making_ text, when they were interrupted.

"Harry! There you are! Room in the compartment here?" Neville and Luna burst open the door. Harry smiled broadly and welcomed them.

"Neville, mate! Good to see you. And you look well, Luna. Thank you for that subscription to the _Quibbler_ this summer – I really enjoyed working on the Rune Puzzle. You all know Katie, of course."

"Hello Kathryn. I'm glad you enjoyed daddy's magazine, Harry. He'll be pleased. Were you able to figure out the Rune Puzzles? I didn't know you took Ancient Runes." Katie, as it turned out, did take Ancient Runes, and said that most of the _Quibbler_'s puzzles were at N.E.W.T. level, and looked at Harry questioningly.

"Well, I just kept the book open, you know...learning as I went along. Really fascinating stuff, Runes. Makes me wish I took the class." Katie casually offered to teach him some rudimentary runework and when she did, a slow smile spread over Luna's face.

"I had a great summer, Harry, loads of excitement. After the Ministry, Gran was really proud of me and how I'd gone along, she said my dad would've done it. Anyway, she got me a new wand and everything! Cherry and Unicorn tail hair, 12". One of the last Ollivander made, I reckon, he disappeared the next day." Neville whipped out his wand excitedly, but as he bumbled with it, a loud 'BANG' sounded and Harry saw his Potions book erupt in flames. Neville's eyes widened and he attempted to put out the flames, but Harry wandlessly summoned his wand from its holster on his wrist to his hand and a simple, "_Aguamenti_" put out the flames.

"Oh my gosh, Harry, I'm so sorry!" Neville started. Harry just smiled and waved it off – the textbook was practically unchanged from the one he knew back in 1944.

"Don't worry about it, Neville, I'm not even taking Potions. No worries!" He did a quick cleaning charm and a drying charm on the burned book. Only the cover remained unmarred. Putting the book back in his trunk, Harry nearly missed Luna's next question, "Are you going to continue the D.A. again this year, Harry?" Harry had, with Tom, debated this for a long time. Harry thought that it was purely an anti–Umbridge development, but Tom thought that it was worthwhile, not to mention enjoyable.

"Well, Luna, I thought about it, but really the D.A. was made because of Umbridge. However, I think that I'll be spending many of my evenings in the Room of Requirement practicing spells, and any members of the D.A. are certainly welcome to join me. And if the new Defense teacher happens to be incompetent – if that wouldn't be a shocking development – then we're in a perfect position to continue the D.A. We probably wouldn't even have to be secretive about it without a psycho intent on us not learning anything." Luna looked pleased at this and said, "Then I shall join you there, Harry – it'll be like having real friends." Harry turned to her and grew serious.

"I am your friend, Luna. You did me a big favor going to the Ministry with me, and I can't forget that. I'll always be your friend." She smiled dreamily, and Harry, had he looked, would have seen a slightly wistful look on Katie's face. An opening of the door drew Harry's attention – he expected Malfoy to barge in any time, but it was a bit early in the train ride for his appearance, it seemed. Instead, a group of giggling fourth–year girls was revealed, all of them whispering together on the other side of the glass.

"You ask him!"

"No, you!"

"I'll do it!" Declared a bold girl with large dark eyes and black hair. She pushed her way through the door.

"Hi. Harry, I'm Romilda, Romilda Vane." She began confidently – Harry thought he'd heard in _Teen Witch Weekly_ that he was attracted to confident women, "Why don't you join my friends and me in our compartment? You don't have to sit with _them_ you know…" She spoke in a stage whisper and ended with a sultry wink. At the last word she was gesturing to his friends; Neville was trying to keep Trevor away from the pile of ash that used to be his Potions book, while Luna was staring at him through Spectrespecs, which Harry himself had received in the last issue of the _Quibbler_. It was a pity he hadn't kept them so he could put them on now to match Luna, he thought.

"Actually, I saved this compartment for my close friends, several of whom joined me. Thank you for the offer, but I much prefer to stay where I am." Romilda looked floored.

"Oh…oh. Okay, then. Whatever." And she withdrew, sliding the door closed once more.

"People expect you to have cooler friends than us." Luna said frankly. Harry just grinned at her.

"First, if the world had everything they expected, last year I'd have been a psychotic, unstable lunatic. Though I'll grant that last year may not have showcased my stability, I do hope I wasn't all that bad." Neville cut in with a joking, "I don't know, there were a few times…" Before Harry continued.

"Plus, it takes a certain kind of person to be a close friend to me. Some might say a suicidal person, but I say a strong person. I wouldn't fancy seeing Romilda Vane and the gaggle of birds back there take on a single Death Eater, and yet how many did we face at the Ministry? That says a lot about my friends, Luna." Harry finished. Luna smiled with the first sincere smile Harry'd ever seen on her face, and looked to be slightly teary–eyed.

"We didn't face _Him_, though," Neville added. "You did, and I can't imagine it. You should hear Gran talk about you. '_That Harry Potter's got more backbone than the whole Ministry of Magic put together!'_ I bet she'd give anything to have you as her grandson." Neville didn't seem to be embarrassed, but Harry almost heard the downtrodden spirit in his voice.

"Well, Neville, I bet a lot of people would say the same about you – you were the only one right there with me, even against Bellatrix Lestrange. You were the last one standing. Don't make it sound as if that's nothing, because I certainly think it is." Neville reddened noticeably. Katie looked astonished at all of this.

"So that's what really happened in the Ministry? Wow…it's just so unbelievable. I mean, I thought the _Prophet_ was just selling papers, but…why lie when the truth is so…much better than the lies?" She finished awkwardly. Harry chuckled at her eloquence.

"Yeah, I guess it all does sound kinda fantastic when told like this, doesn't it. It was terrifying, though – most scared I've ever been. Particularly because it wasn't just my life I thought I'd thrown away – I very nearly got all my friends killed." The compartment looked somber at this. Small talk was just starting to rise when the door opened once more to reveal Hermione and a grinning Ron.

"Hey Neville, Luna, how are you all? Hey Harry, you'll never guess who didn't show up in the Prefect car – Malfoy! Reckon he got sacked after all that Inquisitorial Squad nonsense?" The thought of taking points of a helpless Malfoy was obviously inducing Ron's euphoria.

"Oh honestly, Ron! He was told to do those things, horrible as they were, by an authority at the time. Unfortunately I don't think that he could be punished for it. But it did seem odd that he didn't show up. Either he's neglectful of his duties, his grades slipped and it was taken from him, or he gave it up." Despite the fact that Malfoy was a git, his private tutoring in the summers ensured that he was an excellent student, so Harry expected that failing O.W.L.s were not the answer. A red–faced third year popped her face in and nervously handed Harry and Neville identical scrolls of parchment tied with violet ribbon. Extravagantly loopy and elaborate handwriting, along with the personal seal of Horace Slughorn, meant that Tom knew the Slug Club had reformed.

Every year when Slughorn taught, he invited his favorite students to lunch with him personally. Tom had always asserted his authority over the Club by bringing his junior Death Eaters uninvited along with himself. Sure enough, the invitation hadn't changed in fifty years.

_Harry,_

_I would be delighted if you would join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C._

_Sincerely,_

_Professor H. E. F. Slughorn_

"Hey, it doesn't say we can't bring friends, does it? How about we all head down there and see what's going on?" Hermione looked horrified at the idea of possibly disregarding a Professor's wishes.

"I don't know, Harry...maybe it should just be you and Neville...we weren't invited, after all..." Harry knew she desperately wanted to go, but rule–breaking was always something Hermione needed prodding for.

"Nonsense, I'm not going unless you all accompany me. Now let's go." When Katie made no move to get up – obviously she thought Harry only meant for Ron, Hermione, and Luna to accompany him – Harry offered his arm to her and grinned. Hermione looked at the interaction curiously, but Harry offered no explanation.

Making their way to Compartment C, Harry waltzed in first, Katie on his arm. Slughorn immediately ignored the student he was conversing with to greet Harry warmly.

"Harry, my boy! Brilliant to see you, I'm _so_ pleased you could make it today! And who is this lovely young lady?" Slughorn looked positively thrilled to meet anyone arriving on Harry's arm. His velvet–covered belly bounced as he strolled up, his reflective pate and silver mustache gleamed as brightly as the golden buttons on his waistcoat.

"Professor Slughorn, might I present Ms. Kathryn Bell." Slughorn took her proffered hand and kissed the back of it lightly.

"A pleasure, my dear. Ah, and you seem to have brought your friends, Mister Potter!" He smiled at Harry indulgently, the exact way he once smiled at the promising Tom Riddle, and Harry introduced everyone.

"Yes, these are all my close friends, we were sitting together in a compartment when Neville and I got the invitations. Neville Longbottom, of course; on his arm Ms. Luna Lovegood. The lovely brunette in the back is Hermione Granger, and on her arm is Ron Weasley. Everyone, Horace Slughorn."

"Weasley, was it? Why, I do believe your sister's here as well! I saw her shoot off quite the hex at another student. Normally, I wouldn't condone such behavior," he smiled coyly to insinuate that he just might appreciate a good hex, "but I decided to let it go this time and reward her for a clever spell!" He winked over at Ginny, who'd rolled her eyes. Slughorn then shot off a barrage of introductions around the spacious – expanded? – compartment; there were nearly fifteen students of assorted years and houses represented. Blaise Zabini was in Harry's year; he was an androgenous boy that Ron was convinced was female until fourth year. Harry had never even met any of the others in the compartment, though apparently one Cormac McLaggen was in Gryffindor with him.

"Now, come in, come in; I always thought that the snacks on the Express were a bit sweet," Hermione nodded fervently, "And this old man's digestive system just isn't what it once was. So I always enjoy a bit of lunch on the train up with friends. Roast Pheasant, anyone? Help yourself to anything, of course, Harry." He gestured to grand silver serving platters; just lunch with a few 'friends' indeed. "I was just discussing his uncle with young Marius over there, Harry," Slughorn said excitedly, gesturing to a younger student, fourth year Hufflepuff? Harry wasn't certain.

"It's Marcus, sir," Slughorn waved off the correction with a, "And how _is_ old Damocles, young Belby?"

"Uh...well, I don't really see him all that much, sir. He's pretty busy, and he and my dad don't really get along..." Tom knew that young Belby's chances at being a part of the elite Slug Club were at an end as Slughorn almost visibly shifted focus from the boy.

"Well yes, of course! I'm sure that he didn't invent the Wolfsbane potion by lounging around all day! Good heavens no! They certainly don't hand out any Order of Merlins for _that_! I still work a bit with Damocles, of course – professional correspondence – we've written a few articles for various Potions journals together, and all that. Two years ago was a quite popular series in _The Practical Potioneer_. Really quite boring unless you're an avid Potions enthusiast, I'm sure!" Slughorn made certain that everyone knew exactly who his former student was, but his mention of Potions caught Ron's ear.

"Potions? Don't you teach Defense?" He questioned.

"Oh dear _no_, my boy! Defense, oh, that's rich! No, I believe Severus will take over the Defense position this year as I instruct you all in Potions." Ron looked downtrodden that Snape hadn't caught dragonpox and keeled, but was still excited.

"Do you except 'E' O.W.L.s for your N.E.W.T. classes?"

"Why of course, Reginald! That is a fine achievement, after all!" Ron turned to Harry, who was motioning to him to not let Slughorn know that Harry wasn't enrolled in Potions; Harry had a feeling that Slughorn wouldn't let that injustice stand.

"That's great! Harry, we can sign up for Potions and qualify as Aurors!" Slughorn turned a surprised eye to Harry.

"You mean you weren't enrolled in Potions! Nonsense, my boy! Why, with dear Lily as talented as she was, I absolutely insist. I'll talk to Minerva straightaway, Harry!" Horace winked at him, and Harry gave a sourly thankful smile. Horace continued blithely, "And an auror, Harry? I never knew you had aspirations of a Ministry appointment! I know a few people, if you need contacts, of course I'd love to help you out. Which brings us to Mr. Longbottom." Horace turned and, with a grin, started in on poor Neville.

"Now Neville, of course I remember your parents – both very fine Potions students, and I introduced them myself when I paired them up as partners for their first class! Now, I don't fancy myself a matchmaker or anything..." He gave an obvious glance at Katie, then winked at Harry, "But I admit I did well with those two. And, of course, they ended up as famous aurors, a tribute to the force. Were it not for that tragedy, why, I daresay Frank would be Head Auror now that Rufus moved on to Minister, perhaps even the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement! How about you, Neville, any dream job for you at the Ministry?" Slughorn looked as though he might burst with pleasure if Neville desired a job in the Goblin Liason Office.

"I...I've never really thought about it, Professor Slughorn, sir. I thought maybe a career in Herbology, it's my best subject..." Horace perked up.

"Of course, fine subject that is – many of the best Potions ingredients come from freshly picked plants, you know! If you're interested in Herbology, Neville, you simply _must_ meet Griselda Popkin – an old student of mine, she works in Brazil now on some type of magical reserve; sends me _incredibly_ rare Potions ingredients every year, she's such a sweetheart. I'll make sure to invite her to the Christmas Party this year." Slughorn seemed to virtually ignore the invited guests of Harry – it seemed that Harry didn't yet have the same pull Tom used to enjoy with Slughorn – and moved on to Zabini. Apparently his mother was some famously beautiful witch who'd been married seven times – all her husbands died mysteriously and left her mounds of galleons; She had only failed once, and Tom remembered well threatening her should she kill _his_ follower and steal _his_ money. Gold digging harpy.

"And young Cormac, I know you're friendly with your Uncle Tiberius, I've seen a rather splendid picture of you on his desk at the Ministry hunting nogtails in – Norfolk, I believe?" Cormac puffed up proudly at his chance to prove he belonged in the Slug Club.

"Oh yeah, that was a lot of fun, that was. We went with Bertie Higgs and Rufus Scrimgeous – this was before he became Minister, obviously –" Cormac said. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Ah, you know Bertie and Rufus too? I remember when Rufus was here at Hogwarts, it was ever so long ago now, I'd not been teaching a decade when he came through. I was so proud when he was named Minister – I've kept in touch for years, of course." Harry was sure he was ecstatic at the Minister's appointment – more higher contacts at the Ministry.

"Yeah, I know my uncle was real pleased too, he's thinking that, since Scrimgeour knows my uncle and, you know, how competent he is, he'll get a big promotion; maybe Department Head." Ron, standing near Harry, muttered how Department Heads are usually chosen for their incompetence. Harry turned to him and winked, and mentioned loudly to Slughorn, "Weren't you just saying how poorly Bill thought of that Goblin Department Head, Ron?" Horace instantly turned away from Cormac and rounded in on poor Ron.

"What's that, Reggie? You know someone in the Goblin Liason Office?" Tom knew that this was one office where Horace could install almost any appointment, and thus his favorite office at the Ministry.

"Oh, my older brother Bill – he works for Gringott's. Curse Breaker, you know."

"Really! That's wonderful – curse breaking, and warding in general, is quite the complex magic. Dumbledore is a wonderful warder, but few others at Hogwarts can manage it." Tom knew that Horace himself was a competent warder; this initially surprised him, as he hadn't pegged Horace as a very powerful wizard himself. He soon learned otherwise, however, and then learned the fine art of political machinations and ruling from the sidelines from the man who was once his mentor. Tom believed that Voldemort still would attempt this kind of usurpation at the Ministry, instead of installing himself as God–Emperor, merely allowing Imperiused servants to do the menial labor.

"Of course, it seems powerful magic runs in your family, if little Ginevra over there is any indicator – quite the hexer, as I've mentioned. And that leaves Harry. So much being said about _you_, of course. And what rumors! Last year's were positively awful, and trust me, Harry, I wrote to Barny Cuffe and told him exactly how I thought you were always telling the truth. And after that mysterious business at the Ministry...You–Know–Who's public return after a fight at the Ministry. And you all wrapped up in the center of it. And Fudge's expulsion from office, dear Rufus' appointment. So much talk about a prophecy, too..._Prophet_ heralding you as 'the Chosen One'..." Horace began, obviously fishing for details.

"Oh that's rubbish, I was right there, and no one heard the prophecy – it broke when we were fighting the Death Eaters." Horace was shocked at this revelation from Ron.

"You were there!? Well why didn't you say so, Rory?" Horace slapped Ron on the back and gestured to a seat – Ron didn't take it.

"I was there too, and Ron's right, the prophecy broke, not even Harry heard it. We were all there, in fact: Hermione, Ron, Luna, Neville, Harry, and I." Ginny added. Slughorn looked dejected that Harry was not, in fact, the Savior of the Wizarding World and therefore someone who could do him _immense_ favors.

"Ah yes, well…the _Prophet_ has been known to exaggerate, grab at straws and all that. I remember dear Gwenog telling me (Gwenog Jones, of course – captain of the Holyhead Harpies, you know?) –" Ginny and Katie both seemed rather excited to hear about the famous Quidditch player; the Harpies were a famous all-female team, and both girls had aspirations of Chasing for them. Slughorn, however, was still floored at the age of those involved at the Ministry.

"Well, good heavens. I'd heard rumors about it being a bunch of kids down there, but I expected maybe students older than Harry, and perhaps a few post–Hogwarts friends – know you used to hang out with Oliver Wood from Puddlemere United, stellar Keeper – but not _younger_ students helping him. You must have a few better spells than that Bat-Bogey, young miss." He said. Finally looking at his watch, Slughorn sighed.

"Well, just _look_ at the time, I can't imagine where it's gone. They've lit the lamps, even. All right everyone, time to change into your robes, we'll be arriving soon, and I'm sure you can't wait to get back to the castle! I'll see you all in Potions class – I'll be sure to talk to Minerva about you and Ron, Harry!" It seemed that Ron had earned enough interest from Slughorn to learn his proper name; that business at the Ministry must have impressed him more than Harry thought.

"Now Cormac, you must come down to my office to borrow that book of nogtails for the next time you go out with your Uncle. And Neville,_do_ come and see a few of those exotic plants from Griselda! Harry, Blaise, see you boys in class!" He called after them as Harry hurried away from the smothering man.

"Harry," Katie called out to him as they walked out of Slughorn's compartment, "I just wanted to thank you for keeping me company this whole train ride." She hugged him again, and Harry was forced to use Occlumency to force lewd thoughts concerning this attractive girl out of his mind as he smiled and said, "Oh, its no problem, Katie. I just hope I can keep your company more often." She smirked, blushing slightly, as she went out and changed into her robes.

"Blimey, Harry, I didn't know you could flirt with girls!" Ron exclaimed as she left; she'd probably heard the comment, but Harry didn't mind.

"Well I certainly don't flirt with guys, Ron. Anyway, its fun, and I _am_ interested; you should try it some time – Hermione isn't going to wait around forever, you know." Ron blushed red and mumbled something about not knowing what Harry was talking about. Harry just grinned and shook his head. He pulled on his robe and, shrunken trunk in his pocket, hopped off the train to make his way to the carriages and thestrals. Harry made his way to the carriage pulled by Tenebrus, who he recognized, and gave him an affectionate pat.

"Harry!" Harry spun around to see a bubblegum-pink haired auror running towards him.

"Nymphadora!" Harry received a quick smack before he hugged her, "Are you stationed in Hogsmeade now? That's great! You and Remus can have your own Shrieking Love Shack now!" Harry and Tonks both laughed at his joke, but she quirked an eyebrow.

"I'll be sure to put up hefty Silencing Charms around any Love Shack that Remus and I use, boy-o, and you remember that! Who's the pretty girlie?" Harry introduced Katie – Tonks gave him an interested smirk, but continued, "I'm Tonks. If you get cheeky like this brat and call me Nymphadora, my hated given name, I'll smack you too. Yes, I'm stationed in Hogsmeade along with Proudfoot, Savage, and Dawlish."

"Heh – Dawlish was the one who attacked Dumbledore last year. Bungler if I ever saw one. Well, I have to get in the carriages, so as long as I check out, Auror Tonks, am I free to go, or must you waylay me with questioning?" She looked at him critically, "You're pretty shady, and anything but innocent…well, in some ways," she gave Katie a small grin and a wink, "but you're free to go. Try not to go offing yourself, mind." Harry smiled and hopped into a carriage with Ron, Hermione and Katie. Harry at first wondered why the older girl was hanging around with him so much – Tom commented that _It isn't your good looks_ – but then Harry realized that Angelina and Alicia, whom she'd always been best friends with, were gone now, and she likely had spent more time with students in their grade rather than her own. Harry certainly wasn't complaining.

As the intimidating castle became visible and the gates opened, Harry's only thought was, _Well, I wonder what's going to try to kill me _this_ year..._

A/N: Hope you're all as pleased with my revelation of the ship in this story as I am. Trust me, it took forever for me to figure out who I would pair Harry with, but I like the idea of fleshing out an oft-ignored character. Additionally, every single reviewer was clamoring against and would likely crucify me if I wrote a Harry/Ginny fic. So I took a bit of liberty with a neglected character. Hope you enjoyed the bonus-length chapter! Thank you to all my reviewers, you are the reason for my quick updates!


	5. Flinging Snape and Impressing Slughorn

Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers – I was most pleased to wake up to an inbox full of compliments and let me tell you, I do appreciate it. I was recently informed that I haven't been allowing "Anonymous Reviews". I am sorry, I appreciate all reviews, and have since remedied this. My only excuse is ignorance – I haven't written on in nearly 10 years, and this is a newer feature. Please feel free to correct me on any more mistakes like that that you find.

I would love to take a moment to answer a few questions about the story that have come up in reviews; many questions will, of course, not be answered as that would just give away my plot points!

The Cloak. Yes, Voldemort wore a protective cloak at all times when he began his reign of terror. This is entirely of my own creation, but I think it possible that he did so. He was a young man with experience only killing helpless old ladies ala Hepzibah Smith and Muggles ala the Riddles when he began his reign of terror. For a man whose greatest fear is death, I'm sure he'd have been terrified of actually facing aurors for the first time. And I'd bet he used to have to go on raids with his Death Eaters – show the little servant monkeys how a real wizard works. Now, he's made his Horcruxes, of course, and he's studied up his Dark Magic…but what if his Horcruxes don't work?! What if, heaven forbid, his calculations were _wrong_ and a seven–piece soul is too damned fractured to survive death!? This was, after all, merely an experiment – no one else ever did this. We also know that Tom in canon was versed in spell creation and modification – _Morsmordre_ being our primary evidence – and so I think he might have beat the twins' Shield Cloaks by a few decades and decided that, even if I am the most powerful wizard ever, I still want some insurance. The cloak will not protect against everything, that's a ridiculous notion. But it may allow Harry to last just a little bit longer, have one more trick up his sleeve – I was very surprised that canon Harry never took one of C & F's Shield Cloaks. Voldemort's arrogance eventually got in the way and he stopped using his cloak once he was certain that he could beat the aurors without it; Harry could care less, at least he's alive.

Does Harry know Dark magic? Yes. Does Harry desire to tear the organs out of his opponents through their noses, or pop every blood vessel in an opponents body? Perhaps shred the flesh from the target body part? An emphatic NO! Let's get this clear: Voldemort's knowledge is, in many cases, positively _ghastly_, and Harry wants no part of it. Is he willing to search knowledge for powerful curses that won't make him vomit if he sees it? Absolutely – see the Bone Breaking/Shattering curses, and even the Shattering curse, one of the most powerful in his repertoire, is pretty ghastly. We'll see it in action later, I promise. Harry will work, as he has done with his personalized stunner, to incorporate elements of shield penetration and/or combat effectiveness into non–Dark spells to be able to fight Death Eaters on even footing without resorting to this level. While I did not show the amount of work he put into the stunner, it did take some time to work out, and he's been so busy with Moody killing him that he's not had a chance to work on others. There's time yet.

How rich is Harry? This is an oft–debated point, and one that I feel is often vastly over or underestimated. The Potters left Harry "mounds of galleons", upon their deaths. What does this mean? The Potters were, I think, at least an Ancient and Noble family, and quite wealthy; along with the economic upsurge following VoldWar 1, I think that Harry has access to thousands of galleons, possibly verging on the tens of thousands. That means, for the U.S. readers out there, he has probably $100,000; possibly at most double that, I would say, in his bank account. That's pretty damn good, and enough for him to get through school and get a nice job while not worrying about money for the rest of his life. The Blacks do _not_ have that many galleons. In canon, Arcturus (or was it Orion?) Black wasted the Black fortune layering untold enchantments upon the Black house after his wife died. My personal thought was that Orion went to school with Voldemort, and knew that he was a fraud – he remembered that dorky little Tom Riddle back before he was proper, and _he_ knew that there were no pureblood Riddles. So he went into hiding, trying to protect himself from an insane classmate who might want to keep his secret hidden. Were they scared when their own cousins became Death Eaters? You bet, but they kept their mouths shut. Were Reggie's parents proud when he revealed the Dark Mark to them? Heck no, and they finally revealed to their son why. A sixteen year old Death Eater became disillusioned with the Dark Lord at the height of his power…because he was too evil? Heck no, there's more to that story than Sirius knows. Why would his parents tell that ungrateful little Gryffindor bastard anyway, its not like he's going to join the Dark Lord – and notice that they didn't reinstate his name on the family tree when he was sent to Azkaban in service of Voldemort. Little Reggie found out the Dark Lord's a fraud and, when he saw a chance to rub his nose in it by stealing a Horcrux and probably telling Kreacher to destroy it (which he failed at), he took it and ran with it, committing suicide or dying from the effects of that potion afterwards. Unfortunately none of my suspicions about the family Black will have a chance to surface in this story, but I'm almost _certain_ that there's more that happened.

So yes, Harry has a good bit of money; sorry, he doesn't rival Malfoy. But then, Harry is Old Money, and Malfoy is New Money and acts like it; New Money spends frivolously to flaunt their money, and is more adamant about their blood than Old Money, its classic. Old Money used to be New Money, so they already spent most of their family fortunes and, while not destitute, don't condone the antics of New Money anyway – they're more civilized. Classic Black behavior, to me. Harry could spend a great deal more money than he has been and still not run out – he dropped 300 galleons on a robe without blinking – but I don't think he has the millions – or billions – sitting in a "family vault" that is often depicted in fanon.

My comments on the O.W.L./N.E.W.T. system. Are standardized tests from the government – yes in both the British real world and likely the wizarding world; it appears to mirror real life. Griselda Marchbanks of the Wizarding Examination Authority – probably related to the real life Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, which is a Non–Departmental Public Body. They have nothing to do with school at all. And, we have evidence of O.W.L.s beyond those awarded by a realistic number of classes at Hogwarts – Percy got twelve, while Hermione (who certainly took the maximum number of classes) received only ten. And Percy wasn't described as the legendary student that Tom Riddle was, receiving awards for being 'oh–so–great' as he was. I think Tommy did ol' Perce one better and got twelve N.E.W.T.s. He may have been the first one ever to do so, maybe beating Dumbledore's record or something. This would have been an astonishing achievement, by the way, as most British students take only 3 – 4 'A–level's, which is the RL equivalent of NEWTs. Universities require 4 – 5, and we see that Auror training must be pretty darn exclusive. Also, Hogwarts really is a fine school if it allows students like Hermione to take 7! And we only see Neville taking less than 4. I firmly believe that classes are not needed to sit examinations. They certainly weren't in the British Ordinary Levels (for which they were highly criticized and ousted in the '50's), and the Wizarding World seems to have not moved past their equivalent.

Anyway, thank you for both comments and criticisms, I do appreciate the attention taken to mandate intelligent criticism. And I love maintaining a 1/100 reviews/readers, though I always appreciate more. On with the show!

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Five:

"How long have you been able to see them?" Katie whispered quietly to Harry. He turned to the girl next to him in the carriage – they were definitely designed for first year bodies, and it was quite cramped for the four upper year students – and told her, "After fourth year…Cedric. That was when it all really began for me." She nodded distantly, turning away to look out over the castle grounds. The picturesque forest lay shrouded in just a wisp of fog, and the lake stood glistening with the last vestiges of retreating sunlight. It all had a distinctly magical aura that was uniquely Hogwarts, and Harry was glad to be returning to this welcoming bastion of knowledge.

The four Gryffindors followed the masses of students through the Entrance Hall and made their way to the Great Hall where awaited them a feast. Excited murmurs followed Harry's progress through the Hall, which he blithely ignored, and he sat at the Gryffindor table with Katie at his side; Ron and Hermione sat together just across from them. Noticing that Ron was sitting across from Katie and not paying attention, he stage whispered, "Now be careful of food flying from Ron's mouth once the feast starts – and try to keep your limbs from between any platters and his arms, you wouldn't want him to mistake them." Hermione snorted and Ron failed while trying to look insulted. His comment, unfortunately, was overheard.

"Really, Potter, are you surprised the Weasel has no table manners? Probably doesn't even have a real table at his house – had to sell it to put him through Hogwarts. And he's likely used to trying to grab whatever scraps of food he can as quickly as possible, its not like that dumpy mother of his can provide for such a litter." Ron turned red–faced with anger, but the comments didn't seem to phase Harry.

"Now, now, Draco – I stayed a bit with the Weasleys this summer, and Mrs. Weasley sets the finest table you'll ever find, and the food certainly isn't lacking either. I'm sure that if you'd like an invitation, I can manage to wrangle one up for you over the hols – I'll be sure to owl Arthur and Molly for you." Malfoy turned red and sputtered with indignation.

"Wh–wha–what are you talking about, Potter? I don't need an invitation! And –" Snape took this opportunity to silkily interrupt the babbling Malfoy.

"Mister Malfoy, as I'm sure you don't want to join the Gryffindor table, why don't you join your own house before the feast begins. Potter, twenty points from Gryffindor for…unkempt hair. Why, I do believe we have a new school record – no house has been in negative figures before the feast even begins. How wonderful." Snape started walking away, but must have missed the appearance of a stern–faced Professor McGonagall.

"And just why did Gryffindor house suddenly lose points it hasn't yet received, Professor Snape?" Snape raised an eyebrow before responding, "Potter was insulting Mister Malfoy – I must, after all, protect my students from his insulting tongue." Snape glided away while Minerva merely narrowed her eyes.

"Potter!" She rounded on him and looked him and the nearby Katie up and down before saying, "You and Miss Bell are dressed exceptionally well today. Ten points to Gryffindor each for setting a good model for the rest of the House." Professor McGonagall spun on her heel and marched the remaining distance to the Head table, where she looked at Snape with a small smirk threatening her face. Snape appeared less than amused. She reached behind the Head Table to retrieve the Sorting Hat, then led the First Years through to the Great Hall. Whispers erupted, speculation on the diminutive new students, which were quickly squashed with a glare as McGonagall set the Hat upon a stool. The brim opened wide and the battered headgear began to speak.

"_Many years in the past,_

_When I was new and shiny,_

_There lived four friends_

_Who made a school_

_And taught their students magic._

_First there was Lord Gryffindor,_

_Bravest of the brave,_

_His students would have nerve_

_He said, and daring and courage._

_Next there was Miss Ravenclaw,_

_A brighter one you'll never find._

_Her students would be clever,_

_And always use their brains_

_Hufflepuff, too, was different._

_A friend, loyal and true,_

_Her students would work very hard_

_And band together to succeed._

_Lastly was old Slytherin,_

_Of whom rumors abound._

_Ambition and cunning were his preference_

_For those he would instruct._

_But listen as I tell you,_

_For I know it to be true._

_There was more to every Founder_

_Than just a few pretty words._

_For Ravenclaw was cunning,_

_Godric he was loyal._

_Hufflepuff had a brilliant mind,_

_And Slytherin was brave._

_Were I to sort the Founders,_

_It would truly be a test;_

_For no one is summed by a few mere words_

_And the Founders even less._

_So put aside your differences,_

_Trust me, they're less than you think._

_Though you I'll judge,_

_And your young I'll sort,_

_Hogwarts must band together, _

_As did the Founders when it was built._"

Applause broke out at the Hat's completion, and the Sorting began. Harry paid rapt attention to one of the few Sortings he'd ever witnessed, and applauded loudly whenever the Hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!" with the rest of his table.

"Thank you, Hat, for your wonderful work as always. And now, we feast." With a snap of two of his left fingers, the food materialized on the table and the students began piling food on their plates. Harry dug in with gusto, Slughorn's pheasant seeming to have been ages ago, though in reality it was only a few hours. Roast chicken and chips was the menu, and Harry piled on a few legs after Ron had cleared out half the platter for himself. After a few more minutes, the large oak doors opened once more to admit a smiling Hagrid, who smiled and waved at Harry as he strode by up to the Head Table. Hagrid took sat in his customary massive chair next to Professor McGonagall, who had looked disapprovingly at his show of friendliness.

_Gosh, Tom, I sort of feel bad now, that I haven't continued his class._ Harry confided.

_Oh, don't worry about that, Harry. Just tell him that you learned so much in his O.W.L. classes that you know you'll be able to do well enough on the N.E.W.T.s, and he'll take it as a complement. Then take them next year, make sure to get an 'O' on the Creatures N.E.W.T., and he'll be all proud and teary–eyed of you. Seriously, not to worry. Oh, and have tea with him a few times._ Harry had to admit that as long as he phrased it that way, Hagrid might take his opting out of his class as a complement.

A glance at the other side of his half–giant friend revealed Professor Trelawney, who looked out of place at the high table. Truthfully, Harry couldn't remember the last time she'd actually been present for a feast instead of sequestered in her tower as was her usual preference. Odd indeed, and Harry didn't know what to make of it, or indeed if there was anything to make of it. All of these complex plots were really starting to get to him, and he was certain that he'd be more paranoid of Moody of a conspiracy next he knew. Speaking of suspicious, Dumbledore had kept his withered wand hand concealed up to now, and Harry wondered just how long he expected to be able to keep that a secret.

"…And I really expect classes to be significantly more difficult than previous years. Isn't that right, Katie? Of course it is. And I know that _some_ people keep a lighter load of classes and get breaks, so they can of course study _then_. But I fully intend to keep seven classes, so I really think I'll be challenged to keep up. But of course I'll keep to a strict schedule – not a lot of time for outside interests, I'm sure; of course N.E.W.T.s are ever so important, so I'm willing to make the sacrifice." Hermione lectured; she seemed to think of Katie as an authority on the difficulty of classes and would often ask her questions before answering them herself.

"Yeah, but the breaks are what I'm looking forward to. I think I can just mark 'Quidditch' down on my schedule, because that's surely what I'll be doing!" Ron said excitedly; Hermione frowned at this, but he didn't seem to notice. "Hey Harry, mate, be sure to let me know when you schedule tryouts, right?" Ron seemed slightly nervous at this announcement – perhaps he was scared of losing his spot?

"Yeah, sure Ron. Don't worry though, if you fly like you did all summer, you won't have any real competition, I expect." Ron grinned brightly and piled chocolate gateau pudding on his plate.

"Oh, Harry, I expected you to get that, congratulations!" Katie said to him with a smile, eyeing his Quidditch Captain badge.

"Oh, thank you. I was surprised McGonagall didn't offer it to you – we've been on the team for the same length of time, and age before beauty, after all." She laughed – she really had a nice laugh, Harry thought.

"Well I'm not saying she didn't, but I have N.E.W.T.s to keep me busy; I wouldn't make a very good Captain being stressed out the entire second term. Just let me know when tryouts are too, of course." Katie smiled as she took a small portion of pudding – nothing next to Ron's plateful.

"Of course, and I'll be glad to have you under me." His eyes widened with shock and he blushed as he realized what he said. "Flying. Flying under me." She smiled and quirked an eyebrow.

"Only flying? Pity…but I'm glad you intended to make me tryout again – we can't have shows of favoritism due to friendship." Harry grinned widely at her response to his slip, and Ron's jaw didn't close, revealing his mouthful of pudding. Hermione closed it with a disgusted face.

"Right, of course. But I'd love for your help – and yours, Ron – in picking out the other flyers. Hard to keep my eyes on all the players at the same time, you know." They both accepted quickly, and turned to Dumbledore as he arose and the Hall immediately quieted.

As he tapped his wand on the podium for silence, he drew gasps as his shriveled wand hand was revealed. The loudest was probably Hermione, who noted Harry's lack of reaction. Harry, instead, was carefully looking at the injury. Last time, he distinctly noted that the shriveled part of his hand did not go beyond his wrist; now, by contrast, Harry used the enhancements that Alastor Moody put on his glasses to see that the blackened, wilted skin continued halfway past his elbow. He narrowed his eyebrows in consternation; Tom knew the effects of the curse, of course, but had never looked into combatting the curse – it was supposed to be unstoppable and certain death. Over the course of half an hour or so, the curse sapped a wizard's energy as it crept its way up the body, ending in an excruciating death as the wizard's lungs and heart blackened and he suffocated to death. Harry shivered in disgust at the mental picture he saw of Dumbledore writhing in such agony.

"Harry, we're finding out what happened to his arm," Hermione whispered fervently. He nodded distractedly.

"Nothing to worry about," he said with a smile; Harry very much doubted _that_, "Now…to our new students, welcome, to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you…"

"It looks as if it's died," Hermione said with her nose upturned, a nauseated expression on her face. "But some injuries you can't cure…old curses…and poisons without known antidotes…"

"…and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.

"Those wishing to play for their House Quidditch teams should give their names to their Heads of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, should do the same.

"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn" – Slughorn stood up, smiling at the general populace and winking at Harry as his bald head gleamed in the candlelight – "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master."

"Potions?"

"_Potions?_"

All over the hall, students not lucky enough to have heard from Slughorn directly were astonished at the development. Ron only grinned and leaned over to Harry, "Hey Harry, does this mean that greasy git'll be gone next year? A whole year without Snape!"

"Professor Snape, meanwhile," said Dumbledore, magically amplifying his voice above the commotion, "will be taking over the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts." Cheering ensued from the Slytherin table, and Snape's only acknowledgement of the announcement was to raise his hand at the Slytherin; Legilimency, as he glanced in Harry's direction, told him that Snape felt a rush of pride and triumph. Shock entered Snape's features as his Occlumency slammed down like a hammer on Harry, who smirked and raised a glass to his most hated teacher. Snape narrowed his eyes as Harry looked away. Dumbledore, obvious to the sensational nature of this development, warned the student body about the imminent return of Voldemort, but ensured their safety at the castle.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say good night. Pip pip!" The deafening sound of hundreds of students arising from benches and moving toward their dormitory filled the hall almost immediately, but Harry was in no hurry. He followed the Gryffindor table back to his dormitory, giving a last wave to Luna as he left the Hall, and walked with Katie at his side back to the tower – Ron and Hermione forced to walk with the younger years, much to Ron's consternation.

"Blimey, I feel like I'm going to trip over the little monsters. Oy, midgets!" He called, forcing a grin onto Harry's face.

"'Arry!" Harry heard the booming voice of Hagrid calling out to him.

"Hagrid! How've you been?" Hagrid grinned like mad.

"Oh, jus' great, 'Arry, really great! Grawpy's go 'imself a new cave, now, and I've been 'elping him set it up a bit. Dumbledore took care o' the 'ole thing, o' course. Great man, as I've always said. Anyway, Dumbledore reckoned Grawpy might not 'ave liked the forest all that much, and recommended this cave in the mountains – yeh can see 'em right on the 'orizon, see? – an' sure 'nough, Grawpy was jus' thrilled. I've been up talkin' to 'im a bit – 'e's really catchin' on to talkin', an' 'e's a right chatterbox now! I'm thinkin' o' trainin' 'im up as me assistant!" Hagrid was quite proud at this last announcement, and his chest puffed out a bit.

"That's fantastic, Hagrid, really great! I'll have to go out to talk to him some with you next time." Hagrid's smile grew even broader at Harry's enthusiasm, which was only partially faked – Tom found giants to be fascinating creatures, one of the reasons he recruited them in the first place. The other was that he knew that they were creatures of nightmare to Muggles, and loved such imagery as he learned from the orphanage in London. Hagrid said farewell as he left through the Entrance Hall to go to his hut and Harry and the others continued on to Gryffindor tower. When they all got to the common room, Harry and his friends – with the addition of Katie – settled into their familiar corner as Hermione rounded in on him.

"Okay, Harry. I know you knew about Dumbledore's hand." Hermione said harshly.

"Yeah, I saw it when he picked me up this summer. I didn't know what happened, so that's why I didn't tell you. One thing, though, this summer it didn't even come up to his wrist; did you see it tonight? Must've gone past his elbow." They all looked somber at this.

"But it's_ Dumbledore_, Harry. Surely you were just mistaken; its not like he doesn't know how to fight a curse." Ron said with proper reverence to Dumbledore.

"I don't know, Ron...I remember reading about some curses that were just awful. Really Dark magic, you know...and they didn't say anything about reversing them..." Hermione chewed on her lip.

"They're probably just in another book or something, 'Reversing Dark Magic for Dummies', I'll bet it's in the library now." Ron said with a smile.

"Don't be silly, Ron – healing magic isn't taught at Hogwarts, and therefore the library has only introductory books on the subject." At three skeptical faces, she pinkened and continued, "I...looked into being a Healer after I took my O.W.L.s. Well you didn't expect me to lie about in the Hospital Wing and not even read something, did you?" She said.

"No, you're right, Hermione. And by that ticket, Hogwarts probably isn't the greatest resource for information concerning possibly deadly Dark curses, either." Harry said dejectedly.

"Yeah, we'd need to head to Durmstrang for that. Or maybe Sirius' house – I bet his family has all sorts of curses in _their_ library." Harry's face lit up in an astonished smile.

"Ron, you are the most brilliant person ever! Kreacher!" Harry immediately straightened his posture and assumed the most Malfoyish sneer he could manage. A loud crack and the well–dressed Kreacher appeared with a tentative smile.

"My great Dark Lord master called, Lord Black?" Kreacher said as though excitedly anticipating cruel punishment.

"Kreacher, search the Black library for any information on a Withering Curse." Kreacher's eyes lit up and he grinned. "Oh, Master. 'Tis a terrible curse that Kreacher is knowing of, sir. You is certainly most Dark and terrible to want such a curse." He looked as though Christmas had come early and filled Grimmauld Place with cursed artifacts.

"Find me everything about that curse, Kreacher. NOW!" He yelled angrily. As Kreacher 'pop'ped away, he burst out in laughter. Hurricane Hermione, however, was about to come in.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! What the hell do think you're doing with that elf? You call him back here right now and you free him or so help me I'll –" Hermione was downright frightening as she screamed over Ron's laughter.

"Hold on, Hermione. I'm only pretending to act that way in front of Kreacher." Hermione narrowed her eyes.

"Explain. Now."

"Well, Kreacher wants more than anything to have a good Dark, evil master to serve. Well, he just took the fact that I'm a Potter, and they married into the old Black bloodline, so he just kinda assumed that I was ready to embrace my Dark heritage and destroy the 'Mudblood Dark Lord' to install myself. It makes him really happy to think of serving a Black Dark Lord and, well, who am I to spoil that for him? I just told him to clean up Grimmauld Place, and I swear that this is the first real task I've set him…its all just pretend, as far as the being mean and all." She deflated slightly, but not entirely.

"Fine. Slave-holder. Whatever helps you sleep at night." Kreacher 'pop'ed back – surprisingly quickly, he really must know a lot about this curse – and was carrying four tomes.

"Master, Kreacher has found the curse. There is a brief mention in this book," he laid out _Darkest Curses of Yestercentury_, "a slightly more detailed description in this journal," a dark red – blood? – colored thin book, "and more detailed descriptions in both of these grimoires. Kreacher is most pleased to serve, Master. Is there anything else? Kreacher has been preparing the Black wardrobes for Master and his loyal followers, and they is ready for wearing. Kreacher is sorry miss, but he is not seeing you before. Wardrobe for you will be ready for breakfast tomorrow. Kreacher should punish himself for his ignorance, Master." Kreacher prostrated himself before Harry. Hermione narrowed her eyes and Harry knew she might well kill him if she thought he'd 'punished' Kreacher.

"No, Kreacher, I told you that I will not abide an injured house elf for a servant, so I will not punish you." Kreacher nodded seriously.

"I is having most serious news, Master. Evil Fletcher is stealing Master Black's artifacts. He is stealing one batch before Master is talking to Kreacher, Master, but when he is coming back, Kreacher is hurting him most wonderfully. Breaking his back and flinging him against the wall, Kreacher is. Kreacher is sorry to let him get Master's things." Kreacher did indeed look quite remorseful; Harry wondered just what Mundungus stole. Tom commented, _Whatever it was likely was quite valuable – there were many artifacts that the Blacks acquired over the years, and I surely do not know all of them._ Harry nodded thoughtfully.

"I will deal with Mundungus, Kreacher. If he comes back, do not let him enter, but try not to permanently injure him."

"Kreacher understands, Master; Master is wanting to punish Evil, Vile Fletcher himself for such heinous crimes. Should Kreacher be preparing the rack again, Master? I is polishing it just yesterday, thinking that my Master is needing it." Kreacher asked, eyes eagerly wide.

"Oh no, Kreacher, I have a few of my own ideas on how to deal with Mundungus. But thank you." Kreacher shivered at the thoughts of his Master's torture of Evil Fletcher Most Vile. Oh yes, he was certain that it would be most glorious.

"Oh Master, you is being so deliciously Dark and evil. Kreacher is being honored to serve Master. Kreacher is having your blackest dragon hide cloak ready for Master – should I be fetching it?" He asked hopefully.

"Uh…yes, Kreacher, that will be fine." The garment – Harry had to admit that it was extraordinarily beautiful – appeared in Kreacher's hands and he reverently laid it out before Harry. He hobbled over and clasped it on Harry's neck. When Harry looked at him again, Kreacher was wiping tears in his eyes.

"Oh, Master is looking so wonderfully evil. Master's cloak is most fine, Master, as Kreacher knew it would be."

"Thank you, Kreacher, the cloak is quite nice. That will be all." Kreacher instantly disappeared, causing Ron and Katie to erupt in laughter once again, while Hermione looked stern, but kept quiet.

"Oh, Kreacher is right, Harry. You definitely do look most deliciously evil and Dark in that cloak." Katie said appraisingly. Harry felt a slight blush as she looked him up and down calling him delicious, but forced it down.

"Right, Harry. Terrible – makes You–Know–Who look like a right tosser in comparison." Ron said through his laughter.

"Oh, that's such a good name, Ron! From now on I am the real Dark Lord and all other Dark Lords shall be called the Dark Tosser." Harry proclaimed as he struck what he believed was a pose worthy of a Dark Lord.

"Right, all fear the Dark Lord Potter." Hermione joined in, rolling her eyes. "Now let's look up that curse and get started on this." She grabbed one of the large grimoires that Kreacher indicated would be most helpful and started skimming quickly, a look of disgust reaching her face almost immediately. Harry grabbed the other, leaving the smaller books for Ron and Katie.

"If you don't mind, Katie?"

"No, of course I'd love to help…I'm as interested as all of you."

Looking through the book quickly brought a lot of knowledge to the forefront of Harry's thoughts – knowledge he'd rather not have, in fact_. The localized pain curse worked on the same principle as the Cruciatus, but the latter was more useful because of the effect over the entire body as well as the added benefit of being able to penetrate almost any shield. However, the lesser pain curses were also useful in an arsenal because of their efficiency – the Cruciatus took a lot of power to cast repetitively, and could drain a wizard unused to expending that kind of energy._ Harry cleared his mind with Occlumency to force the Dark knowledge that threatened to overwhelm him out of his mind. He must have closed his eyes while doing this, because all three of his companions had stopped what they were doing and were staring at him.

"Harry, what's the matter, is it your scar?" Hermione asked concerned. Katie had a questioning glance at this comment, but didn't ask it.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right, it was the scar. I just had to use Occlumency a second, though, to get rid of it – it's alright now." Hermione looked skeptical.

"I thought you weren't very good at that…"

"Oh, well, I had a bit of a breakthrough in the early summer – you know, lots of time to practice and everything. I'm actually doing okay at it now, basics and all that." Harry smiled comfortingly.

"Oh…well I'm glad to hear that Harry. You're sure you're alright?" _Of course, just the knowledge of a sixty year old Lord of All That Is Evil floating around in my head threatening to pop up as I go over Dark spells. Why am I doing this anyway, I know this damn spell, I cast it! No. Voldemort cast it. Not me, I'm Harry._ Harry forced the thoughts from his mind as he continued the futile flipping through the book. He finally did come onto the pages with the proper spell and skimmed it, making sure that the book didn't contain anything new. It did not.

"Here it is guys, the Curse of the Withering. Causes immediate excruciating pain as the flesh is withered, all water driven from the tissue; can cause blackening from the friction involved. Curse progresses from point of contact with the individual until it reaches the chest area. Upon reaching the heart and lungs, always within a half–hour of initial contact, the victim is rendered dead in a most painful fashion as these crucial tissues are destroyed. Head contact results in almost immediate death, and is not recommended in cases where torture is desired. Hand/Foot contact results in the most satisfying torture." Ron looked quite green as Harry finished reading, and Katie was the first to recover. Hermione had not looked up – she was likely scouring her book for more/confirming information.

"And that's what's happening to Dumbledore? But…I mean, he's obviously found a way to stop it, right? He's not dead yet, and it's certainly been more than a half–hour since Harry saw him in the summer." Her reasoning made sense, but Harry continued reading, hoping more information about how the curse spreads was in the book; he was in luck, and shared the information with his friends.

"It says here that the curse starts with a single point of contact and is carried through the body using the body's own tissues to spread the curse – except if you cut the affected tissue off, the curse just jumps to the next closest point for some reason. So to stop the curse, you'd need to stop anything from moving to the next part of the body." Hermione let out a frustrated sound.

"Ugh, but that's nearly impossible! The only spell I could think of that might even have an effect is like a partial _Impedimenta_ or something. But it'd be extremely difficult Arithmancy to adjust the spell like that. Maybe a Potion or something would work better, but even then it might only delay it. This curse is really powerful, and totally focused on bringing death." At the mentionAnd Harry immediately thought of how odd he'd thought it at the time that Snape was hovering around Dumbledore at Harry's birthday party.

"Hey Ron, you remember at my birthday party, and how Snape and McGonagall and Dumbledore all showed up, but were acting all weird?" Ron's eyes widened and he nodded, "What if Snape was just, I don't know, trying a new treatment or something? You know, he needed to watch Dumbledore to make sure he wouldn't drop dead or something." All four looked quite sober at Harry's inadvertent announcement. Indeed, they were casually discussing the death of the most powerful wizard in the world, and they all just realized this fact abruptly.

"Bloody hell…Dumbledore…" Ron's sentiments summed up all of theirs pretty well. The common room deserted at the late hour, Harry thought it prudent to send the books back with Kreacher and retire for the evening.

"Well, everyone, it's getting really late, so why don't we just head up to bed – classes early tomorrow and all that."

"Right, mate, bed."

"Kreacher!" He popped in, and Harry continued, "Take these books back to the Black library. Thank you for your help, Kreacher." Harry handed back the stack of books.

"Of course, my Dark Master. Kreacher is happy to serve." Kreacher left as Ron grinned once more.

"Yes, well goodnight, Dark Lord Potter," Hermione smirked as she headed back to the dormitory.

"Yes, goodnight Dark and evil Master. By the way, you really do look nice in that cloak, Harry." Katie kissed his cheek and rubbed the material of the cloak lightly before she retreated. Ron quirked his eyebrow at the scene.

"So…Katie Bell, huh? Merlin, mate – first day back and she's already all over you." Harry grinned.

"Looks like. Makes you want to get started with Hermione, doesn't it?" Ron reddened at Harry's comment as he knew his friend would. Ron didn't reply and sheepishly followed Harry up the stairs to their dormitory.

The next morning Harry awoke quite refreshed and he and Ron were soon making there way down to breakfast. Hermione was there already and Katie joined them, sitting right next to Harry again, after a few minutes. Ron was busily shoving food in his mouth – breakfast was not allotted enough time, in his opinion – but Harry warmly greeted his female friends.

"Good morning, ladies. You both look beautiful today –" Hermione cut him off with a roll of her eyes.

"Save the charm, loverboy – Professor McGonagall will be interviewing each of us today so that she can clear us for our N.E.W.T. level classes; I'm sure she'll be interested to have you attempt to charm her knickers off." She said sweetly with a wicked grin.

"Why Hermione Jane Granger, I never! When was the last time I mentioned anything to you about getting your knickers off? I'd move much slower than that, Hermione, and tease you for a lot longer." She reddened as he definitely won that round of verbal flirting. Ron looked at first stupefied and then mortified, finally settling on anger.

"Wha-you and Hermione? After all your comments to me about –"

"Relax, Ron. Hermione and I were just kidding, she's like a wonderful sister who I love very much." She smiled warmly at his comment before he lowered his voice and said, "Besides, I'd never do that to you, mate." Ron's anger instantly dissipated and he smiled brightly.

"Right, 'course. Sorry, mate." Harry dismissed his apology casually – he was slowly trying to mold Ron out of his stupidity, but it was a painfully slow process that on occasion made Harry want to rip his hair out in frustration – and returned to his food. Soon enough, all the Gryffindor sixth years were awaiting the awarding of their schedules, which was complicated by the need for Professor McGonagall to confirm that everyone had achieved the requisite O.W.L. grade to continue on in their N.E.W.T. choices.

Hermione, of course, was instantly cleared to attend all of the classes that she wanted to take – the maximum number of seven, of course: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Potions. Hermione smiled graciously at the professor and left to her first period Ancient Runes class. Neville then approached the professor.

"Yes, have a seat Longbottom. Yes, I'm sure Professor Sprout will be quite delighted to have you continuing with an 'Outstanding' mark in Herbology – excellent work, Longbottom. And Defense…an 'E' – let me say that I was quite impressed with the mark, too. However, I cannot allow you to continue on in Transfiguration with an 'A'. I just do not believe that you will be able to keep up with the coursework. Why not try Charms? Professor Flitwick accepts 'E' students. Why do you feel the need to continue in Transfiguration anyway?" Neville looked downcast and muttered, "My Gran insisted…she thinks Charms is a weak option…" Minerva quirked an eyebrow and looked exasperated.

"Mr. Longbottom, it is past time that you began doing things of your own volition instead of bowing to your Grandmother. Personally, I am quite shocked that she hasn't started to be quite proud of you after the Ministry. I will sign you up for Charms, and I'll write an owl telling Augusta Longbottom that just because she failed _her_ Charms owl it does not make the class useless. Thank you, Longbottom." Neville turned from embarrassed at Professor McGonagall's chastisement to look shocked at this revelation about his gran. Harry grinned at him and gave him a small thumbs-up as he walked out.

Parvati Patil, the student just before Harry, was excited to continue on in her Divination class – one class that Harry was exceedingly glad that Tom had studied so that he didn't have to continue through any more death portents, despite the fact of his revelation that Professor Trelawney actually _wasn't_ a fraud and was a Seer with several real Prophecies – but was curious to know whether Firenze, the handsome centaur that she and Lavender always stared at hungrily, was returning to teach.

"He and Professor Trelawney will be teaching alternate years," she said in a disapproving voice, for it was well known that she despised the spotty subject, "I believe Professor Trelawney will be teaching the sixth year students." Parvati looked rather dejected at this pronouncement, and was hurried off.

"Ah, Mr. Potter. Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology – all fine. I was most pleased with your Transfiguration mark, Potter." Harry gave her a charming grin courtesy of Tom and said smoothly, "Well, I have to thank my talented and beautiful teacher, Professor." Professor McGongagall actually laughed mirthfully.

"Haha! Oh, Potter, I haven't heard such a line since James came here – really, you are more like him every year, it's amazing. Of course, there's so much of Lily in you too; your father was a bit of a berk in his early years, I'll be the first to say. Anyway, Harry," her casual use of his first name caused him to grin with success, "Excellent Defense mark, of course, the best in your year. And I got quite the talking to by Professor Slughorn about how he absolutely insisted on having you in his class. He seems to think you'll be quite the natural Potions student; he remembers your mother fondly, it was one of her best subjects. Your father was a transfiguration student to the core – he was marvelous, and I don't believe I had to teach him until about his N.E.W.T.s. Even then, he'd been partially transfiguring Mister Black into dreadful things for a year beforehand, and took to it well. I expect you to work just as diligently – I saw a bit of your work over the summer and I must say you've improved since the last class, I can only imagine how that came about. Anyway, I really must move on, Harry, so get a move on. Oh, and I've already got twenty names of prospective Quidditch players, so do pick a time for tryouts." She shooed him from her office, but not before he was able to kiss her hand in farewell, when she smiled again and sent him off more forcefully.

Ron was able to take the same classes as Harry, for which he was eternally grateful, and was once again excitedly talking about the breaks they'd get now.

"And free periods, whole _periods_!" He exclaimed.

"Yes, Ron, but we'll need that in order to study!" Harry imitated Hermione perfectly, and then chuckled. Even Hermione had a few breaks, though admittedly many fewer than Ron and Harry.

"Look Harry – one free period now, then another after break, then after lunch…this is great!" He said excitedly.

Harry agreed that it was great and returned to the common room with Ron. The common room was empty except for a few seventh years, including Katie, who smiled warmly at Harry and Ron as she looked up from a book she was reading.

"Hey Harry, Ron, how are you two doing? Get cleared for all your classes?"

"Yeah, we're both taking Defense, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, and Herbology." Harry told her.

"Hey, little guy, give me that – no Fanged Frisbees, they're banned. Now get to class, you're way late." Ron said rather sternly. As soon as the boy left, Ron grinned and said, "Excellent, been wanting one of these but I didn't have enough last time I went to Fred and George's." Lavender Brown, passing by, let out a cute giggle that put a grin on Ron's face. Ron went over and started tossing the Frisbee with Crookshanks, who'd retrieve it and attack it viciously into submission. This left Harry alone with Katie.

"Yeah, I'm taking all those same classes except Herbology – instead, I'm in Ancient Runes." She gave a frustrated look that made Harry wonder if she found it hard.

"In N.E.W.T. Runes, you start moving away from simple translations – which still seemed so hard in previous years – and start doing more about basic runes for warding. It's really convoluted, but important. I mean, if I'm going to be an auror and have to take down wards, it'd be good to know which ward is the keystone, and work on overcharging that one to bring the whole gate down, instead of just a few charms. I do okay with it though." Harry smirked – Tom was, of course a master of warding, and he thought this a wonderful time to impress Katie.

"Really? Well then I'll just have to test you." He said with an easy grin to her.

"You can set up wards?" She sounded quite surprised, as well she should be.

"Basic ones; here, close your eyes and then bring down the wards." Instead of tying the ward to the main defensively retributive rune Thurisaz, or even Uruz the power ward, and instead tied the ward to Gebo, the rune of gifts. He put a simple spell in the ward and told Katie that she could open her eyes.

"Okay," she did a few revealing spells and shot a "_Reducto_" at Gebo after verifying that was the rune it was tied to. After the wards collapsed, a huge bouquet of flowers dropped into Katie's arms, shocking her.

"How'd you do that? I checked the ward and didn't see that spell anywhere around! Thank you for the flowers, by the way, Harry." He smiled and put his arm on her shoulder, turning her around as he noticed a wonderfully fruity scent coming from her hair that he found intoxicating.

"Do a revealing spell in this direction," she did so, revealing the rune of secrecy traced in fire, "secrecy runes are used all the time to conceal spells, often times in the direction opposite the auror's back so they don't see it coming." Harry said, and it was true – this was almost a signature Tom move that only a few living – but many dead – aurors could attest to.

"Wow…I've never seen that before, its really clever, Harry. Thanks for showing me." She turned in his arm towards him just as the bell for the next class rang. Harry scowled at the clock, but Katie just smirked.

"Time for Potions, I guess. It was good talking to you, Harry; I have a feeling your lessons with me are going to be very beneficial." She turned and walked away, leaving Harry to think of many ways, most not involving spells, that lessons with Katie could be beneficial.

"Hurry up mate, time to face the Snape. Bet he'll be a git."

"Ron, that's like betting he'll wear black…its just common sense!"

The two boys, toting their wands and copies of _Confronting the Faceless_, which was very good, as far as the history of their Defense texts had gone in the past five years, set off out of the common room. Harry had made sure to read the text over the summer, and it made some excellent points – nothing new to him, of course, but Tom was qualified to teach N.E.W.T. Defense as a third year, by his own reckoning. Tom and Harry, since learning of Snape's appointment, had often conversed over the quality of Snape's Defense instruction. Harry tended to think that Voldemort wouldn't let Snape teach well, as he'd want students as poorly versed in Defense as possible to make things easier for himself – thus one of the reasons he cursed the position in the first place. Tom, however, was pretty certain that Snape would be one of the best Defense teachers that Harry had, as long as he paid attention to Snape and didn't dismiss him as incompetent and greasy. Harry did admit slight prejudice in the case of Snape, but thought he was still quite tolerant of the hated teacher.

Hermione arrived at the same time as the boys, carrying a hefty armload of books and looking bedraggled.

"We've already gotten loads of homework in Runes," she said as the boys approached, "a fifteen inch essay and two translations; plus, I have to read these by Wednesday!" Ron smiled at her, fondly remembering time spent with a Fanged Frisbee.

"You know, Hermione, I really begin appreciating these breaks we have. You know, it'll be great to put off all my homework until the break just before the class…" Harry joked; Hermione looked horrified before she saw that Harry was joking.

"Don't even joke about that Harry, you might give Ronald ideas." Ron looked rather put down – it was Hermione's first insult of the day, after all – so Harry decided to get back at Hermione.

"I don't know, Hermione. I know Ron and I will have a lot more time to do work than you will. I expect we'll both be significantly above you in our classes." He said totally straight-faced. Ron looked gobsmacked.

"Are you kidding? Hermione's the best at everything – I'll certainly never match her." Hermione pinkened in response to his praise.

"I don't know, Ron – we'll have a lot more time to practice than her…"

"Well we'll make sure she gets plenty of practice – we're not leaving her out just because she's brilliant and takes tons of classes." Ron looked rather sharply at his friend – just what was Harry thinking, leaving Hermione out? Hermione flung herself onto Ron and kissed him on the cheek. When she did, Harry broke out into a grin and Ron realized he was joking.

"Oh, Ron…that was really sweet of you to say, thank you." Ron blushed furiously and looked at his shoes, dismissing it. Harry rolled his eyes – just what kind of force of Merlin would get these two together, anyway? Harry got quite a wicked idea when Ron, trying to avoid Hermione's eyes, looked over at Lavender Brown, who winked at him coyly as she passed. Harry and Tom collaborated and formed quite the evil plan, causing a malicious smirk to appear on the face of the Dark Lord of Matchmaking.

"Well anyway, I hope you enjoy doing this much homework too, I'll bet Snape gives us loads." She said.

As she made this prediction, the door to the classroom opened suddenly, revealing his sallow face as he stepped into the corridor. "Inside." He said in a harsh whisper; his two greasy curtains of hair swayed as he stepped to the side of the door to view the entering students. Harry entered after smiling at the Professor, who narrowed his eyes. Snape had hung gruesome pictures on the wall detailing various tortures or attacks, and Harry couldn't help but become assaulted by images of Voldemort's past as he stood, unable to tear his eyes away from just the first picture in the bunch, detailing a victim of the Cruciatus Curse writhing in agony. He tried to clear his mind, but with the memory coming up on him with the pictured reminder, it was too horrible for him to avoid.

_Harry stood over the arrogant Pureblood – how dare any of them stand against him! He was the Heir of Slytherin, as they should damn well know with all their tapestries and nonsense dating back ages. Well, this one was paying for her arrogance now._

_"_Crucio_! You dare join that Order of Dumbledore's! Fool!" He shouted in his unnaturally high voice. _

_Harry was able to separate himself from the Voldemort in the memory when he realized that the tortured woman resembled someone he had recently come to know better and think of often – Katie. Though she was older, she had the same dirty blonde hair, similar nose, same aristocratic features to her face – high cheekbones so common in Wizarding Purebloods. The woman's pretty features contorted in agony as she was held under Voldemort's terrible curse for ages, until he finally ended in ordeal with two words and his favorite color erupting from his wand._

"Mister Potter, if you'll accept my invitation to take your seat, then we may begin class." Harry shook himself out of the memory and went over to his seat – Hermione shooting him a concerned glance.

"I have not asked you to take out your books," he said with a glare in Hermione's direction – her book lay open to the table of contents. "I wish to speak to; I will have your fullest attention." His black eyes roamed over their upturned faces, lingering for an imperceptible moment on Harry's before he continued.

"You have had five teachers in this subject, I believe." He said silkily, as though he had watched them pass through.

"Naturally they will all have had their own methods of teaching and priorities. It is for this reason that I wonder how many of you managed to scrape the required O.W.L. for this class; I will be extremely surprised if all of you manage to keep up to N.E.W.T. standards." Snape stalked around the classroom now, his voice never above a whisper as he continued.

"The Dark Arts," Snape began his obviously well rehearsed speech; Harry wondered if he wrote it when he applied for the job so many years ago, "are many, varied, ever-changing, and eternal. Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before. You are fighting that which is unfixed, mutating, and indestructible." Where others might have spoken of the Dark Arts as a respected enemy, Snape spoke of them like a familiar lover. Harry was forced to wonder if, when he finally managed to defeat Voldemort, a new and more powerful Dark Lord would arise. Even worse, he wondered if it would be himself, fallen to the throes of power the Dark Arts offered.

"Your defenses," Snape continued, raising his voice only slightly, "must be equally flexible and inventive as the arts you seek to combat. These pictures," he indicated them as he swept past, "give a fair representation of what happens to those who suffer, for instance, the Cruciatus Curse," the picture of the witch clearly shrieking in agony, "feel the Dementor's Kiss," a wizard huddled and blank-eyed, slumped against a wall, "or provoke the aggression of the Inferius," a bloody mass upon the ground. Another memory of Voldemort's assaulted him suddenly.

_They were so beautiful, Harry thought, beautiful, efficient, and cold. It would be a shame to put them to rest, assuredly. They marched through the cold waters of the cave as they marched to the bottom. He would miss the looks upon the faces of the terrified Muggles as they realized that he was, quite literally in far too many cases, all of their worst nightmares come true. But they were needed to protect his Horcrux. The ring had the delightful Curse of the Withering he'd found, and others would be protected in other ways. The locket – Slytherin's own locket – would have the Inferi as its constant protectors. As soon as the fool stupid enough to stand against Harry would touch the water, the Inferi would attack, dragging the fool down to join his army as one of their own. Only the Fiendfyre curse would truly be able to harm them, so soaked and swollen putridly with the waters of the lake, their own skin swelling to comedic proportions. So beautiful…_

Harry finally tore himself from the fading memory just as Parvati finished her question – something about Inferi that Harry didn't quite catch.

"The Dark Lord has used Inferi in the past," Snape replied to the girl, "which means you would be well-advised to assume he might use them again. Now…" _Not unless ol' Voldie either abandons the cave with the Horcrux or makes a new army with all of the people he kills._ Harry turned slightly green with that thought as Snape circled around, sending his robes billowing as he slinked towards the opposite side of the classroom. _I'm going to keep a watch on any more disappearing bodies…_

"…you are, I believe, complete novices in the use of nonverbal spells. What is the advantage of a nonverbal spell?"

Hermione's hand shot into the air, while Harry rose his hand slowly. Snape looked around to make sure there was no alternative before glaring at Hermione and saying, "Potter?"

"In addition to the textbook advantage of a split second before your opponent realizes you cast a spell – which only applies, in my opinion, if your opponent is foolishly naïve or ignorant of nonverbal spell-casting – you also have the advantage of sending an unknown spell at your enemy; if, for instance, you shoot out an eerie green spell, your opponent is more likely to dodge into the path of another spell; even if the green spell is nothing more than a Slug-Belching Curse." Harry said, shooting a smirk at Ron. Snape raised an eyebrow at Harry's answer before saying, "Correct on both accounts. Yes, those who progress to using magic without shouting silly incantations gain an element of surprise in their spell-casting. Not all wizards can do this, of course; it is a question of concentration and mind power which some" – his eyes shot to Harry – "lack."

Harry knew that Snape was unaware of his advancements in Occlumency over the summer, and definitely of his work strengthening his magic under the skilled instruction of Tom; today would certainly be a day of surprises for Snape. Harry cleared his mind and fearlessly met Snape's gaze. When he felt the telltale tug of Snape's Legilimency, he batted the probe away from his thoughts repeatedly, focusing on the nothingness and clarity of thoughts; Snape looked away quickly.

"You will now divide," Snape went on, "into pairs. One partner will attempt to jinx the other _without speaking_. The other will attempt to repel the jinx _in equal silence_. Carry on."

Harry had taught at least half the class Shield Charms last year in the D.A., but none of them, to Harry's knowledge, had began work on nonverbal spells. Much cheating ensued, whispering incantations instead of saying it loudly. Ten minutes into the lesson, Hermione managed to repel Neville's muttered Jelly-Legs Jinx without uttering a word. Snape ignored her achievement, instead of awarding points as most teachers would have. Ron's face had turned purple as he attempted to curse Harry – Harry wondered just what thoughts were clouding his mind to prevent the spell from functioning; likely thoughts about Hermione – when Snape interrupted.

"Pathetic Weasley," Snape sneered, "Allow me to demonstrate –" Snape shot a Flinging Hex – Harry knew that enough from Moody's lessons – Harry nonverbally reflected right back at him with a nonverbal _Protego_. Snape, obviously not expecting such proficiency, was knocked back over his desk. He cloak settling over his back as he smoothed his mussed hair, he arose.

"That was an adequate example, Potter." The rest of the class passed uneventfully as Ron continued his red-faced concentration as Harry hit him with jinx after jinx, eventually settling on making Ron look humorous. The class ended and Harry fixed Ron's hair and his robes to no longer flash 'I love H.G.'. Hermione caught up with Harry immediately after class.

"What did you think of Snape's speech, Harry?" She questioned.

"Food for thought, definitely, and he made excellent points, though he sounded a bit too intimately familiar with the Dark Arts, in my opinion."

"I thought he sounded a bit like you." Harry quirked his eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes, when you were telling us what it's like to face Voldemort last year at the D.A. meeting in the Hog's Head. You said it wasn't just memorizing a bunch of spells, you said it was just you and your brains and your guts – well, wasn't that what Snape was saying? That it really comes down to being brave and quick-thinking?"

"I guess I never thought my words were as worth memorizing as spellbooks." Hermione pinkened slightly.

"Harry! Hey, Harry!"

Harry looked around to find Jack Sloper, one of the less-than-talented beaters that were on the team last year.

"This is for you," he handed Harry a thin parchment, "so I heard you're Captain, when are trials?"

"I'm not sure, Sloper, but it'll be a big announcement – watch out for it." He unrolled the parchment to reveal Dumbledore's neat, thin writing and green ink.

_Dear Harry,_

_I would like to start our private lessons this Saturday. Kindly come along to my office at 8 P.M. I hope you are enjoying your first day back at school._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore_

_P.S. I enjoy Acid Pops._

Harry, Ron, and Hermione excitedly shot back and forth ideas and speculation on what Dumbledore would teach Harry over the entire break. Ron thought that Dumbledore would teach Harry advanced jinxes and hexes that the Death Eaters wouldn't know. Harry knew plenty that the Death Eaters didn't; possibly Dumbledore would teach him things Voldemort didn't know – the old man certainly had years of experience on Voldemort, but Harry wasn't sure that knowledge of curses extended to that. Hermione suggested advanced Defensive magic after dismissing Ron's idea as unlikely. This suggestion was also possible, but Harry had a feeling that it was not Dumbledore's intention. He had a feeling that Dumbledore had something more interesting in store for him.

After the break, Hermione set off to Arithmancy while Ron and Harry began Snape's complex homework assignment on the theory of nonverbal spell-casting. Harry wrote a very thoughtful essay invoking several principles of basic Occlumency and detailing how they aid in nonverbal casting. He and Ron finished their essays – Harry's much longer than Ron's – just before they had to set off to Snape's former dungeon for Potions.

Only a dozen students had apparently gotten the required O.W.L. grade to continue on with Potions, they found once they stood in the corridor outside the classroom: four Slytherins, including Malfoy but not Crabbe nor Goyle, four Ravenclaws, and one Hufflepuff – Ernie Macmillan. Harry had gotten to know Ernie quite well when the pompous boy was a member of the D.A. last year.

"Harry," Ernie held out his hand in a rather remarkable imitation of Slughorn as Harry approached, "didn't get a chance for a word in Defense this morning. Good lesson, I thought, but Shield Charms are old hat, of course, for us old D.A. lags. Good show knocking Snape over his desk, though – I always thought he was just a placeholder until Dumbledore could offer you the job. And how are you, Ron, Hermione?"

Before they could answer, the door to the dungeon opened to reveal Slughorn's smiling face and protruding middle. As they passed into the room, Slughorn's great walrus mustache curving above his beaming mouth, Slughorn greeted both Harry and Zabini with particular attention – like they were old buddies.

The dungeon was far from empty, however, as several kinds of vapors and smells assaulted the entering students. The Slytherins and Ravenclaws each got a table together, leaving Ron, Hermione, and Harry to share with Ernie. They were next to a large, bubbling gold cauldron whose potion emitted one of the most seductive scents that Harry had ever inhaled: Simultaneously, it brought up the woody smell of a broomstick handle, treacle tart, and a fruity smell that he couldn't place, but was wonderful all the same. He found that he was slowly breathing, and that the potion's fumes seemed to be filling him up like a hearty butterbeer. He shook his head as he realized that he was obviously succumbing to some kind of mind-altering potion and cleared his head with Occlumency. He glanced across at Ron, was grinning lazily.

"Now then, now then," Slughorn's bulk was wading through the vapors of the classroom, "Scales out, everyone, and potion kits, and don't forget your copies of _Advanced Potion-Making_…"

"Professor Slughorn?" Harry raised his hand. Slughorn beamed at him.

"Harry, m'boy?"

"I had an accident on the Express, and my copy of the text caught on fire…can I borrow a class copy until I get a return owl from Flourish and Blotts?" Harry flashed Slughorn an award-winning smile.

"Of course, Harry, of course…I understand, you know, accidents and all that. I have a few old copies here, I'll fetch one for you." Slughorn dug through a corner cupboard and, after a moment's foraging, emerged with a very battered looking copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_ by Libatius Borage, which he set in front of Harry with a wink.

"Now then," Slughorn inflated his chest pompously, and Harry was certain that the buttons on his jacket would explode with the additional pressure, "I've prepared a few potions for you to have a look at, just out of interest, of course. These are the kind of thing you ought to be able to make after completing you N.E.W.T.s. You ought to have heard of 'em, even if you haven't made 'em yet. Anyone tell me what this one is?" When Harry caught sight of the Veritaserum boiling away in the cauldron nearest the Slytherin table, instead of raising his hand he withdrew a large vial out of his potion's kit. Wandlessly Vanishing the vial into the cauldron of Veritaserum to retrieve a healthy amount, he Vanished it back in front of him and surreptitiously placed it back after a quick labeling; one could never keep too much Veritaserum on hand. Hermione's hand, which shot up into the air instantly, was called upon as Slughorn pointed to her.

"It's Veritaserum, a colorless, odorless potion that forces the drinker to tell the truth," Hermione recited in her practiced tone. Harry, meanwhile, had filled up three larger vials from the tub of Polyjuice Potion sitting by the Ravenclaw table and three vials of a molten golden liquid from the small cauldron near Slughorn's desk; if Tom remembered correctly, it was Felix Felicis, and a very valuable commodity he had just stolen.

"Very good, very good!" Slughorn exclaimed happily. "Now," he pointed at the cauldron of Polyjuice Potion near the Ravenclaw table, "this one is pretty well known…Featured in a few Ministry leaflets lately, too…Who can – ?" Hermione's hand was the fastest raised again.

"It's Polyjuice Potion, sir," she said. Harry had let Hermione answer the questions without competition from him, despite his knowledge of the potions; particularly with this example, it was Hermione who brewed the potion back in second year in Myrtle's bathroom.

"Excellent, excellent! Now, this one here…yes, dear?" he called on Hermione again in a bemused tone as she assaulted the air once more.

"It's Amortentia!"

"Why, indeed it is! It seems rather foolish of me to ask, but I assume you know what it does," Slughorn was looking mightily impressed indeed, and Harry knew that the old teacher remembered that Hermione was one of Harry's friends from the first meeting of the Slug Club.

"It's the most powerful love potion in the world!" Hermione exclaimed, obviously ecstatic to actually be able to answer questions in Potions class for the first time in six years.

"Quite right! You recognized it, I suspect, by its distinctive mother-of-pearl sheen?"

"And the steam rising in characteristic spirals," she finished enthusiastically, "and it's supposed to smell differently to each of us, according to what attracts us, and I can smell freshly mown grass and new parchment and –" she turned slightly pink as Harry only barely caught a furtive glace at Ron.

"May I ask your name, my dear – it seems to have slipped my mind from the train." Slughorn ignored her embarrassment. Hermione had kept rather quiet throughout the encounter earlier, which Harry supposed was likely due to the fact that she had come uninvited to a teacher's lunch.

"Hermione Granger, sir."

"Granger? Granger? Can you possibly be related to Hector Dagworth-Granger, who founded the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers?"

"No, I don't think so, sir. I'm Muggle-born, you see."

Harry saw the Slytherin table smirk and Malfoy leaned over to whisper something to Nott, who sniggered audibly. Slughorn showed no dismay – brilliance could earn fame and importance just as well as a family name, after all – and beamed, looking from Hermione to Harry.

"Oho! 'One of my best friends is Muggle-born, and she's the best in our year!' I'm assuming this is the friend of whom you spoke earlier this summer, Harry?"

"Of course, sir, Hermione's been a friend for ages." Harry shot Hermione a smile; the girl was radiant.

"Well, well – take twenty well-earned points for Gryffindor, Miss Granger," Slughorn said genially.

Malfoy looked as he had the time Hermione had punched him in the face. Hermione turned to Harry with her radiant expression and whispered, "Did you really tell him I'm the best in the year? Oh, Harry!" Harry put his arm around his friend and pulled her into a one-armed hug.

"Well, what's so impressive about that?" Ron whispered harshly, looking annoyed. "You _are_ the best in our year – anyone should have told him so; I would've, if he'd asked!"

Hermione smiled at him but 'shh'ed him gently, turning her attention back to Slughorn.

"Amortentia doesn't create _love_, of course, which is impossible. No, this simply cuases powerful infatuation or obsession. It is probably the most dangerous and powerful potion in this room – oh yes," he said with a grave nod to Malfoy and Nott, both of whom had skeptical looks on their faces. "When you have seen as much of life as I have, you will not underestimate the power of obsessive love…

"And now, it is time for you to start work."

"Sir, you haven't told us what's in this cauldron," Ernie pointed to the small cauldron near Slughorn's desk. Large drops of molten gold were leaping like goldfish, though none had spilled.

"Oho," Slughorn said; Harry knew that he had not forgotten the potion, but was just building up tension for his big showpiece. "Yes. That. Well, _that_ one, ladies and gentlemen, is a most curious little potion called Felix Felicis. I take it," he turned, smiling, to look at Hermione, who'd let out an audible gasp of surprise. "that you know what Felix Felicis does, Miss Granger?" Harry, instead of surprised, was quite pleased to have gotten samples. However, a question did arise in his mind about how Slughorn had managed to brew Felix Felicis, a sixth month process, if he'd been on the run until June. Another piece of the collection of puzzles arising this year.

"It's liquid luck," she said in the excited tone again – Potions may become her favorite class, Harry mused, "it makes you lucky!"

At this revelation, the whole class seemed to sit up straighter. Malfoy had turned to give Slughorn his undivided attention.

"Quite right, take another ten points for Gryffindor. Yes, it's a funny little potion, Felix Felicis," said Slughorn. "Desperately tricky to make, and disastrous to get wrong. However, if brewed correctly, as this has been, you will find that all your endeavors tend to succeed…at least until the effects wear off." Once again, Harry wondered how the creation of this potion did not end in disaster if Slughorn had been forced to quickly move the potion as he fled homebound Muggles for a year.

"Why don't people drink it all the time, sir?" Terry Boot asked eagerly.

"Well, if taken in excess, it causes giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence," Slughorn said conspiratorially. "Too much of a good thing, you know…highly toxic in large quantities. But taken sparingly, and very occasionally…"

"Have you ever taken it, sir?" asked Michael Corner with great interest.

"Twice in my life," Slughorn said somewhat wistfully. "Once when I was twenty-four, once when I was fifty-seven. Two tablespoonfuls taken with breakfast. Two perfect days." He gazed dreamily into the distance.

"And that," said Slughorn as he came back from his memories, "is what I shall be offering as a prize in this lesson." The silence was deafening and Harry didn't need Legilimency to know that every single student would be trying their damnedest to win the potion.

"One tiny bottle of Felix Felicis," said Slughorn, removing a miniscule glass bottle with a cork in it out of his pocket and showing it to them all. "Enough for twelve hours' luck. From dawn till dusk, you will be lucky in everything you attempt.

"Now, I must give you warning that Felix Felicis is a banned substance in organized competitions…sporting events, for instance, examinations, or elections. So the winner is to use it on an ordinary day only…and watch that ordinary day become extraordinary!

"So," Slughorn said briskly, "how are you to win my fabulous prize? Well, by turning to page ten of _Advanced Potion-Making_. We have a little over an hour left to us, which should be time for you to make a decent attempt at the Draught of Living Death. I know it is more complex than anything you have attempted before, and I do not expect a perfect potion from anybody. The person who does best, however, will win little Felix here. Off you go!" No one spoke as they focused on their task. Cauldrons were prepared, books, opened, and weights added to scales as the competition began. Opening his copy of _Advanced Potion-Making_, Harry found that the previous author had taken to scribbling all over the pages in an untidy scrawl. Turning to the appropriate page, Harry noted that alternative instructions were added in several places. Even the ingredients were altered. Well, Tom well knew that Borage often used less-than-stellar recipes for potions simply due to safety. Perhaps the previous owner knew this and had written improved recipes? Harry put in the Wormwood and Asphodel, the two key ingredients for the potion's beginning, and analyzed the altered instructions.

Within ten minutes, bluish steam permeated the classroom with various alternatives as many students made mistakes. Students glanced around, peering in the cauldrons of others to compare their own mixtures to their neighbors. Harry, however, paid careful attention to the Potion and found that he was doing quite well when he got to the alternative direction from the previous owner of the book. He was to crush the sopophorous bean with the flat side of the silver dagger instead of cutting it up like the directions said. Well, crushing would release more juice, and the potion called for one bean's worth of juice; crushing would be a better option, Harry decided with the help of Tom.

Juice erupted from the bean in a surprising quantity, and Harry made sure that every drop made it into his potion; he was slightly off-color to begin with, but the addition of the sopophorous bean juice had adjusted it to the exact shade of lilac described in the book.

"Sir, I think you knew my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?" Malfoy was trying to butter up Slughorn? Ha, as if the boy could compete with Slughorn's desire for Harry to join his club.

"Yes…I was sorry to hear about his death, though it wasn't to be unexpected – dragon pox, at his age…" He walked away, causing Malfoy to fume with indignity. Malfoy would have to rely on skill instead of favoritism to win Felix.

Harry should now have been stirring counterclockwise as instructed by Borage, but Harry once again used Tom's potions knowledge to think about the effect of adding in a clockwise stir once every seven turns. This would increase the interaction of the ingredients, which, in this potion, was critical. In potions with dangerously reactive ingredients it wouldn't be advisable to alternate stirring patterns, but here it should be okay. Harry attempted it and, immediately, the potion turned clear as water with just a hint of palest pink tinge to it – a perfect Draught. Harry caught Hermione peering suspiciously over at his potion. While hers had initially been the proper black currant color, her lack of sopophorous bean juice had left it a darker purple instead of the proper lilac. When she started stirring, it had lightened slightly, but looked a kind of dark pink - oddly reminiscent of Umbridge's robes, really.

"How are you doing that?" She hissed.

"Well, you can add in a clockwise stir to facilitate more sopophorous bean interaction with the wormwood and asphodel, but you really didn't get enough juice for it to be perfect." She narrowed her eyes and glared at him.

"Oh, and just how do you know what effect an altered stirring pattern will have - that's advanced material!"

"Weren't you paying attention to Snape when we studied Swelling Solutions? He warned of the dangers of varying them because of the volatile ingredients in it; he mentioned that it can be used with more stable potions ingredients." Her mouth opened slightly in amazement - Harry had actually listened to Snape at some point in the last few years? - before turning back and applying the modified stirring pattern, which lightened her potions further. Her hair had been getting bushier and bushier with the fumes that seeped out of all the cauldrons, and it was now quite obnoxiously large; Harry smiled at it.

"An excellent point, Harry," Slughorn called from across the room. He was now inspecting potions as he made his way toward the Gryffindor table. His face seemed to keep fairly neutral - Zabini was no expert at Potions, and this one seemed beyond Malfoy. Slughorn smiled at Ron's attempt - it resembled a sticky red licorice mixture - and nodded appreciatively at Hermione's. When he got to Harry, however, he beamed in excitement.

"And time is up! The clear winner, Harry Potter! An excellent example of the Draught of Living Death, m'boy! Note the watery texture of the potion, totally clear and the lightest shade of pink! Well done, Harry - this is Medicinal Grade if I've ever seen it! You must have inherited your mother's hand at Potions, I expected as much, of course, though Severus must have been too short-sighted to spot it. And here, Harry, one well deserved bottle of Felix Felicis! Enjoy!" Harry accepted the small vial with a smile and placed it with the others in his potions kit. He muttered, "_Geminio_" on his copy of the modified Potions book, and placed the copy back in Slughorn's cupboard.

"Thank you, sir, I'll have my own copy by next class." He placed the original book back in his bag and followed Hermione and Ron out of class.

"Guys, in here." He led them to an empty classroom and took out the book.

"Check this out, its got writing all in it - different instructions and all that." Hermione looked livid.

"I can't believe you would do that! Following silly instructions...could be written by some maniac and you'd never know..." Her jaw tightened - she was likely mad because he'd beaten her in class.

"Hermione, I didn't blindly follow the instructions. I thought about their effects on the potion and, when I realized they would be efficacious, then I followed them. Here, we'll go through the changes before class every time, to make certain they're safe, and we can all use them to make some better potions." Ron looked excited at this, and even Hermione was slightly mollified.

"Fine. But only if they're safe." She warned.

"Of course, Hermione. Without Snape's face over my cauldron, I have no desire to blow it up." They all laughed at Harry's comment.

"But who made the corrections to the recipes, I wonder?" She paged through the book to find _This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince_ scrawled onto the inside of the front cover.

"The Half-Blood Prince?" Ron asked. Harry had no idea, but Half-Blood Prince was far too reminiscent of a Half-Blood Lord he'd come to know all too well; this realization made him pale slightly and he desperately hoped he hadn't found the Dark Lord who would replace Voldemort when he was killed.


	6. Schoolwork, Plotting, and Pensieves

My apologies about the tardiness of this chapter, I really expected to put out two chapters this weekend. However, I had to spend some time with my extended family to celebrate a few birthdays, my own included, so there is only one, and a relatively short one at that. However, my schedule should get back to normal tomorrow, and I'll likely put one out in a few days. We're really starting to get to the point where the story will diverge slightly from canon, but I'll try my darnedest to make characters stay in character as much as I've painted them so far. Thanks for all of your wonderful support and reviews, they keep me motivated to quickly write!

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Six: Schoolwork, Plotting, and Pensieves

After his first Charms class of the year, which consisted mostly of a review of many of the charms learned throughout fourth and fifth year, Harry headed up to the Room of Requirement so that he could spend some time training. He wasn't sure exactly what he would be able to do - after all, Moody wasn't there to knock him out when he made a mistake - but thought that a little magical strengthening and simple exercises couldn't hurt.

He first had the room provide him with heavy blocks of marble - heavier than Dudley's weight set he used at the Dursleys - and wandlessly practiced Summoning it. This was extremely taxing for him due to the block just dragging itself across the floor, but a Summoning spell was one of the more difficult spells he was wandlessly proficient with, so it worked quite well.

Then the room provided a mirror and Harry began his dodging exercises by shooting simple stinging hexes - anything too powerful would just crack the mirror - and then evading them. This was less than satisfying to him, which the Room picked up on. Suddenly, a door appeared at the far end and, curious, Harry entered. The new Room was roughly circular, but had different shaped mirrors along every wall. When Harry shot a stinging hex, it bounced off at an odd angle, but he still managed to evade it. He didn't, however, realize that it would reflect off the mirror behind him to catch him in the back, causing a painful welt. _Now this is a better training room!_ He was soon dodging the three hexes bouncing around the room in random and unpredictable patterns - the mirrors changed constantly, after all - and had to keep casting spells as he was regularly hit. After nearly an hour of dodging and attempting to erect a wandless _Absolvo_ shield - he was not yet successful and always received three sharp stings when he stood still to attempt it, Harry finally ceased his dodging exercise and was about to open the door when he heard a voice outside the door to his little part of the Room.

"Can't ever find the blasted thing...is the point, though..." An annoyed drawl began. Harry narrowed his eyes as he realized that it was _Malfoy_ in the Room of Requirement. Harry slipped on his Invisibility Cloak - luckily he had still taken to carrying it constantly per Dumbledore's instructions - and wandlessly silenced his feet and mouth - in case Malfoy _really_ surprised him.

Sneaking out with all of his stealth abilities, he was shocked by the current state of the Room. Instead of the sparse training room he'd created, this room was filled with clutter. All sorts of books lay everywhere - entire bookshelves stuffed to the brim - along with all kinds of dungbombs and other Zonko's products; even a few new Wheezes were lying near the door Harry saw. A memory from Tom overwhelmed him almost immediately.

_Harry sneered as he glanced around the Room of Requirement. Junk cluttered around the door - did those stupid fools really think this some kind of cupboard? Of course, the simpletons. Only I, Lord Voldemort, know the true power of this room. All of the secrets of Hogwarts at my fingertips and that damn Dumbledore will not give me a mere teaching position for which I am far more than qualified. It is no matter, I will steal his students from him anyway, let him watch as I subtly corrupt them right from under his oversized nose. My Death Eaters will grow quickly, and a mere school teacher will not dare utter the name Tom Riddle. That weakling is dead and I, Lord Voldemort, have arrived to replace him. Tom Riddle was a half-blood with the surname of some filthy Muggle; I am the Heir of Slytherin himself. Yes, Lord Voldemort is a much better name, and more fitting._

_That silly ghost - Ravenclaw. No wonder Slytherin was the greatest Founder, if Lady Ravenclaw had such an ignorant twit of a daughter. As though a ghost could love an immortal God such as myself. But she did tell me where she hid the Diadem. It is a worthy Horcrux to me, the wisest and greatest wizard to have ever lived. And now, I shall place the Horcrux in this room - this sanctuary to me; I could not have stayed in the Chamber of Secrets after that fool Hagrid took the fall. Pity, the basilisk was such a fine creature...beautiful, really. And she killed Mudbloods, which is just another item in her favor. Ah, here we are, the back of the Room of Requirement. And so one of the keys to my immortality lies under the protection of my enemy Dumbledore...how ironic._

The vision faded and Harry shivered. Harry was entering Voldemort's psyche more often these days; memories released from association despite Tom's attempt to hold them back. If he ever did release them, they'd be an unstoppable flood...could Harry separate himself from them? Would he keep his own personality in tact, or become even more like Voldemort? He feared the answer to that, and just hoped that he'd be more like Tom - who Voldemort could have been, had he been remotely sane.

Tom had hidden a horcrux here, in this very room. Should Harry retrieve it? Short of fiendfyre, there were few ways to destroy horcruxes, and Harry certainly had never practiced controlling Fiendfyre like Voldemort had.

_Yeah, I bet Dumbledore would appreciate that..."Professor, can I leave Hogwarts grounds?" "Why, Harry?" "Oh, I need to practice Dark magic so that I don't accidentally burn down Hogwarts when I destroy one of Voldemort's horcruxes that is, incidentally, hidden in your school. Surprise."_ _Somehow I don't think that'd go over well._

_I think you're likely correct, Harry. Leave the horcrux for now - no one else knows of its existence, much less location, anyway - retrieve it when you get a chance to practice the fiendfyre spell and can destroy it. Possibly at the Weasleys near their pond. Water alone cannot stop Fiendfyre, but there are spells._ Difficult spells, but perhaps Harry could pull them off. He was progressing well with his wandless magic, after all. He was nearly at the level Tom reached in his fourth year at Hogwarts, which Harry considered to be quite an achievement.

The Room of Hidden things held many memories for Voldemort. Of the many books, mostly graffiti-ridden or stolen from the library, there contained a few gems, books so Dark that they were long banned at Hogwarts. Including several on that most interesting of subjects – Horcruxes. Yes, it was here that the horror of Voldemort was birthed from the shell of Tom Riddle as he studied, fascinated, how to rend his soul apart and use it to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh, as he believed them. Harry hurried past the bookshelves as he shook the arising memories from his thoughts – he could reminisce later. Harry made his way through the Room of Hidden Things trying to find Malfoy. Finally, he found the little ferret far in the back, in the opposite corner from the Horcrux.

To Harry's shock, he saw the Vanishing Cabinet from Borgin's shop, only it was broken. _No...there was something about a cabinet last year, wasn't there?_

"_Specialis Revelio_. Alright, I'm seeing the Vanishing Spell, and the connection with the one in Borgin's shop...and there's the relevant spell damage...Merlin, this is complicated. Damn Weasels." The blond was poking and prodding at the cabinet while looking at a parchment – likely instructions from Borgin he was carefully following – but apparently couldn't even identify all of the spells that were causing it to be perpetually broken.

_The Weasleys? That's right, the twins! They shoved someone in the Inquisition Squad into the broken Cabinet, didn't they? Damn! Peeves was the first one to break it, I think. If Malfoy completes the repairs, he'll have a two-way passage into Borgin's shop...no telling what kind of Dark artifacts he could smuggle into school. Was this his plan? Something in the shop? He was interested in that necklace, I remember, and _that's_ certainly dangerous enough to cause concern_. It was then that Harry remembered Draco's outrage when Borgin suggested he take the Cabinet home with him. Draco would have trouble walking with it down the street...he wanted to make sure he could repair _this_ Cabinet before going to the trouble. Of taking it home. And what was in the Malfoy home that Draco could bring to Hogwarts? _Voldemort. Or maybe Death Eaters. That's it...this is his plan to attack Hogwarts. And unfortunately it's not a bad one..._

Satisfied that he'd found out Draco's plan, but uncertain how to proceed, Harry left the Room to find himself facing an arguing Hermione and Ron. He pulled the cloak off after he shut the door.

"No, Ron, I will not calm down - what if Harry's injured? You know how he trains! Absolutely no thought of safety...wonder he hasn't broken his neck, with the way he and Moody are. I can't believe he locked the door. I'm going to kill him if he's not dead." Hermione had a clenched jaw and an angry glare on her face, while Ron just agreed with her.

"I didn't lock the door." Harry put in. She spun around and her face was immediately relieved.

"Harry! Merlin, what happened, then?" Harry looked around the empty corridor.

"Not here, too many ears." He led them back to Gryffindor Tower and immediately marched up to his dormitory and quickly set up privacy wards around his bed. After just a moment, he started in on his story.

"I found the other Vanishing Cabinet." Ron's eyes widened.

"You did? Where is at?" Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"Azkaban, Ron. Where was I when I was sneaking around invisible?"

"Oh, right. The Room of Requirement. That bastard stole our room!" Ron said, finally understanding before he grew mad.

"Yeah, literally right when I was in it, too. Luckily the Room had made me like a little sub-room where I was practicing dodging - it was round and every wall was a mirror, so the hexes just shot around until they hit me, it was wicked, really - but anyway, Malfoy didn't see me. So I finish my training and hear something out there, right? Well, I put on my Cloak and find the Room to be huge and full of all sorts of junk - like, joke products people threw in there to avoid Filch, old banned books," Hermione's face lit up, "No, I didn't take any, I was preoccupied. Anyway, So there Draco is in the back corner, next to a huge Vanishing Cabinet - looked just like the one in Borgin's shop, only it was all smashed up. So he was trying to fix it up, but Fred and George hexed it good and he reckons it'll take awhile before he can get it fixed. I'm hoping its a long time." Ron laughed.

"That's right...they shoved that git Montague in there - terrible in Quidditch when we played him last year - and he had to Apparate out or something. Ended up splinching himself bad – 'cept he couldn't leave his brain since he doesn't have one." Ron smiled at his joke while Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"So people could come through if he fixed the Cabinet, Harry?" Harry thought for a moment at Hermione's question. It was likely that they could, and the thought had come to him as well as a worst-case scenario.

"Probably, Hermione...but I'm not sure. Even if not, he can still smuggle Dark artifacts from Borgin's shop - remember that necklace he was eyeing, Ron? But I think it likely...they talked about moving it to Malfoy's house when Ron and I were there." Hermione bit her lip worriedly.

"But that means...do you think You-Know-Who might come after you directly, Harry?" She looked mightily upset at this possibility.

"It's possible, Hermione. We still don't know what Malfoy's mission from Voldemort is...and I'd bet Voldemort had a reason to Mark him, too, or otherwise he wouldn't have bothered." Indeed, Tom knew for certain. Voldemort wouldn't have Marked Draco, since he's at Hogwarts and so close to Dumbledore, unless he had a very important mission. He didn't Mark Pettigrew for years for that same reason - a spy in the Order of the Phoenix was valuable, as is a spy at Hogwarts besides Snape.

"He could be a spy, Harry, you know, sent after you." Ron put in.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous, Ron. Snape is Voldemort's spy." Hermione said immediately.

"I don't know, Hermione...first, it doesn't hurt to have two spies, unless they're caught, as they can gather more information. Plus, what if Snape isn't trusted?" Ron looked incredulous at this, as did Hermione.

"Why wouldn't Snape be trusted, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"Well, he's very good at what he does, I know that...but he wasn't at Voldemort's resurrection...he wasn't at the Ministry...maybe Voldemort is starting to second-guess Snape's loyalty? I mean, we're doing it, you know? Dumbledore trusts Snape, but we've never been certain; maybe Voldemort has some doubt - I'm sure the Death Eaters question it if he never shows up to the big parties." Harry just wasn't sure, even with Tom's knowledge. Voldemort had a long time to stew as less than a spirit, and his ideas about threats to loyalty definitely could have gotten more paranoid.

"Maybe, Harry...but what are you going to do about Malfoy's plan?" Hermione asked.

"I'm not sure, Hermione...but I think my meeting with Dumbledore is going to be very interesting..." At this point, Katie knocked on the doorframe when she walked in, and Harry dispelled the privacy wards.

"Katie, how are you?" Harry asked with a smile.

"I'm alright, Harry, how are you? Why'd you miss dinner?" Harry realized that he was quite hungry, as he'd spent too long training and spying on Malfoy.

"Well, I am a little hungry. I was doing some training when I lost track of time."

"Oh, can we head up to the Room? I'd love to get started on our training!" Katie looked excited at the prospect.

"Well, I'm sorry, but the Room is kinda in use - it might be in use a lot, actually...we're going to have to find another place to train, I think." Harry explained vaguely.

"Oh, that's too bad, it was really convenient. Any ideas on where?"

"Nope, none at all...I'll let you know when I think of anything." She nodded and left, leaving the trio alone once more.

"I am going to have to find another place, you know...I think Draco has the Room lock behind him so he can't be found - why you two were having such trouble." The other two nodded just as a tapping on the window alerted them to an owl outside. Harry opened the window and removed the letter to himself that the owl was carrying. He quickly read it and grinned – something else to take care of this weekend. "Well I'm going down to the kitchens to get a bite, I know you two just ate, so I'll see you later. Let me know if you get ideas."

"What was that owl?" Ron asked as he was walking out.

"Oh…just making Malfoy's life interesting." He replied cryptically. _And quite possibly invoking the wrath of Voldemort…_

Harry dealt quickly with the over-excited House Elves and returned to the common room to go over the next day's Potions notes from the Half-Blood Prince with Ron and Hermione. Harry and Tom were more and more convinced that they'd heard of this Prince somewhere before, and deduced that he must have grown to be a Death Eater, but couldn't think of anything

"I still don't know why we all don't just use Borage's recipes – it's obvious that they create perfectly functional potions!" Hermione said exasperated after Harry's third explanation of this same topic – they would make _better_ potions if they didn't follow Borage; he decided to take a different route this time.

"Well, Hermione, I think that Slughorn really wants us to think for ourselves and think about how to improve the recipes."

"What? That's dangerous, Harry, what if we make a mistake?"

"Well, Hermione…Slughorn certainly watches us all a lot more carefully than Snape. And remember, Slughorn's trying to mold us into the next generation of Potions Masters who'll go on and develop some great potion he can take credit for. I mean, the guy who invented the Wolfsbane, " she interrupted with, "Damocles Belby," "right, him – he didn't read it out of some book, he started with something imperfect and then modified it." She looked shocked for a moment as his argument sank in.

"My gosh, Harry…you're absolutely right! He just wants us to innovate, so he chose an intentionally less than perfect textbook! Enough to get us a passing grade, but not if we really want to excel…Well let's get back to work on this Blood Replenishing Paper – we're to attempt it next week, after all, so we don't want to overlook anything, and I'm really not sure about the Prince's modified stirring pattern, I think adding in a more varied – say 4:1 instead of 6:1 – would be more effective before adding the growth factor, then stick to a clockwise pattern…" And finally, Hermione was off and convinced to improve upon even the Prince's instructions.

Unfortunately for Hermione, and indeed everyone except Harry, the teachers piled on copious amounts of homework that kept Hermione quite busy. Taking seven subjects, she spent nearly every waking moment of the next week in the library researching such varied subjects as Celtic Runic Ceremonies, Recent Examples of Arithmantic Spell Modification, and Difficulties Associated with Human Transfiguration, all in preparation for upcoming topics in her respective classes. Harry, however, breezed through all of the essays he was required to complete using only Tom's knowledge – he had, after all, once done these very essays; more importantly, however, he had many years of experience learning Advanced Transfiguration in order to combat Dumbledore's specialty. For the Transfiguration Essay, just to give the Professor cheek, Harry focused on how the difficulties might be overcome to allow more teachers the skill with which to use Transfiguration as effective punishment for students.

Throughout the week, Harry continued to amaze his teachers with his quickly growing skill. Flitwick nearly giggled in excitement at Harry's mastery of the _Aguamenti_ charm the same day he introduced it. Harry quickly used the charm like a fire hose to knock Ron off his feet from across the room while Hermione scowled. Professor McGonagall would often grant him a bemused smile as he would, for example, turn her desk into a beautiful red rose for her. Currently they were studying the theory of human transfiguration while doing practical work at larger transfigurations than previously attempted. Professor Snape gave Harry no compliments or points, of course, but merely adopted a loathsome glare at Harry, who had absolutely no trouble with the nonverbal spells that the other students were attempting to force out while red-faced in concentration. Harry made a passing comment as Snape walked by that perhaps someone had snuck U-No-Poo into dinner, causing Snape to narrow his eyes. Harry noticed that Snape consistently cast revealing spells on his food before every meal with a glare towards smirking Harry.

The most drastic change, however, was Potions class. Even though Hermione and Ron were following the same modified instructions that Harry was, Slughorn always fairly pronounced his work superior. Indeed, Slughorn was calling him a prodigy and his, "little Potions Master" and commenting on his channeling of Lily. Tom conjectured that Harry had never properly applied himself to the subject while it was taught under Snape, which could have masked his latent talent. Also, Harry was more magically powerful than all of his classmates, Tom assured him, and this did make a difference in Potion-making; something to do with the magic seeping off Harry that neither Harry nor Tom really comprehended well.

"But how are you doing better than me? We're using the same instructions!" Hermione, who had grown to look progressively more haggard every day, hissed at him on Friday after class.

"Are you hiding some of the Prince's modifications from us?! Let me see that book!" Harry sighed and gave over the book.

"I don't appreciate that accusation, Hermione." He almost added, "I don't hide things from my friends," but Tom stopped him, _I don't remember you mentioning a certain Evil Dark Lord in your head_. Harry looked sheepish for a moment before wiping it off his face and thinking, _Yeah…but that's different…_at which Tom laughed. Harry, however, had no intention of telling his friends that he was actually a Horcrux for Voldemort – he would deal with that, somehow, and didn't want to worry them about his having to die to kill Voldemort.

Hermione finished paging through the book with a frustrated sigh and handed it back to Harry. "I'm sorry, Harry, I'm just not used to you excelling so well in _everything_. I mean, you never really applied yourself to Potions under Professor Snape, so I guess that's understandable." Harry laughed at this announcement.

"Haha, that's putting it lightly, I think, Hermione. I don't know, but after this summer, maybe all the training, I just feel a lot more confident, and my spells are growing more powerful, I noticed." She nodded as though this was no surprise – he'd never have been able to hide that from her, he knew. She was an observant and clever witch, if nothing else.

"Of course…I think that the increased use of magic over the summer may have boosted your magic a bit, though you were always probably the most powerful in our year…ugh, if I wasn't so busy I'd research the effect of magical power on Potions…I know Dumbledore is supposed to be fairly renowned in the field, so I suppose. No, I really mustn't get worried about this, I still need to go through about four books looking for more clever modifications of spells for Arithmancy." Harry thought this a perfect time to introduce Hermione to his little modified stunning spell.

"Oh, I never told you, Hermione? In the Room of Requirement, when I was looking for Malfoy, I found these Arithmancy calculations you should take a look at." She rolled her eyes and smiled a placating smile at him.

"Sure, Harry. I guess one more little spell wouldn't hurt. Though I'm sure you haven't a clue as to what it was, did you? Of course not, you haven't the foggiest clue about Arithmancy…" Harry thought this rather insulting at first, but then, he _shouldn't_ have a clue about Arithmancy, and had no desire to explain away that sudden proficiency.

"Right…but I read through it, and it mentioned something about stunning…so maybe it's like the original notes about the development of the _stupefy_ spell!" He said in a falsely excited manner; she merely laughed and told him that she'd take a look at it. He couldn't wait for that to happen – he'd been _very_ careful to make sure that he'd never performed his little spell in front of his friends, but would like for them to be able to use it in case of Death Eater attack too; he'd had this idea some time ago, and it was really the perfect way to give it to them without arousing suspicion.

His training, which Ron and Katie had both joined in on, was going fairly well. He and his friends had taken over an abandoned classroom – which Harry had secured with several layers of powerful privacy wards, he'd even considered the Fidelius – and Harry had stocked it with items he'd carted out of the Room of Requirement when Draco was in class or otherwise occupied. Several times, too, he'd reinforced several of the Weasleys' curses that Draco was weakening in order to delay his progress. His training room, magically expanded to about half the size of the Great Hall, was now lined with bookshelves of useful books involving all sorts of topics, suits of armor served as animated opponents easily repaired with a _Reparo_, and several Bludgers were enchanted by Harry to make Broom Hunter into a more interesting and dangerous game. Failure to his the red target or evade the yellow target resulted in a trip to the Hospital Wing, unless Harry could fix it with a simple _Episkey_, with which he was becoming quite proficient.

Ron, however, did not participate in training as often as Harry and Katie – he muttered an excuse about a Transfiguration essay whenever confronted – so this led to the two of them becoming quite friendly. At Harry's suggestion, Katie wore clothing that was easy to move around in for their training; for the blonde, this was apparently revealing pink shorts that resulted in Harry's distraction frequently. Tom believed this was good practice for a real battle, where things more malicious than well-toned, tanned legs would work to distract Harry from his opponent; Harry was certain that explosions and the dying curses of Death Eaters would be less effective than Katie's athletic bum at drawing his eyes. Katie would also end each training session with at least a quick kiss on Harry's cheek, and often a nice hug, which Harry was growing to anticipate rather anxiously.

_Oh for Merlin's sake, ask the girl out, Harry!_ Tom finally screamed at Harry one day during training while Harry was once again distracted by the backside of his partner in her delightfully tight shorts.

_But what if she says no?_ Harry worriedly asked. _Plus, I don't want to make things awkward between our training and –_

_Aren't you Gryffindors supposed to be the brave, courageous ones who risk health and hazard on a whim? Besides, Harry, how many girls have _ever_ turned down Tom Riddle's charm?_ Harry had to admit that Tom could quite handily charm a starving man out of dinner, and decided to finally buckle down and ask her. At the end of their next and final little duel for the night, Harry was so anxious that he accidentally put a bit too much power into a stunning spell that ripped through her shield and flung her bodily across the room. He quickly ran over to her fallen form and revived her.

"Ouch, Harry, bit overzealous, huh?" She said with a grin. Harry, taking every direction from Tom, smiled easily and chuckled a bit.

"Yeah, sorry about that." He said as he flashed the dazzling smile he was becoming more renowned for daily – Witch Weekly would likely run a series on it, he thought ruefully.

"Oh, it's okay, Harry. Well I guess we'd best head back to the tower, eh?" She moved to kiss his cheek just as he turned to ask her to the first Hogsmeade outing and they ended up gently touching lips together.

Harry's eyes widened as he realized what happened, but Tom told him not to break away and forced Harry to deepen the kiss, which met no objections from Katie. He was just starting to put his arm around her back when he heard the sound of a door opening and a shrill, "HARRY!"

Pulling away slowly while keeping his arm around Katie, Harry turned his head to see Hermione looking sternly at him, carrying a load of parchments and books – even one roll of parchment behind her ear for safe keeping.

"I come down here once to see what kind of training you're doing instead of working on homework and I find you snogging! Really, Harry…I never would have thought you'd take over a room to make it into…into…your personal broom cupboard!" She stormed out, slamming the door, while Harry just bit back a grin.

"Wow…guess I should let Ron know that she could use a bit of a snog, too." Katie laughed in a way that made Harry's smile burst onto his face – she really had a wonderful laugh, had he mentioned that – _More than a few times, loverboy_, Tom interjected.

"Before uh…I turned my head like that…I was going to ask you if you wanted to go to the Hogsmeade trip together, on a date." He said with a false confidence that only Tom could have provided him; Harry was shrieking at Tom about how stupid he sounded, but Tom just laughed at the uncomfortable boy.

"Why however could I turn down the most eligible bachelor in the Wizarding World? Of course, I'd love to go on a date with you, Harry." Harry's smile lit up even brighter.

"Really? Great! I just, well, you know these sessions are…I've just had a great time with you, Katie." Harry said, all of Tom's lessons in suave flying from his mind. Katie and Harry both leaned in for a more planned kiss before walking, hand in hand, up to the Gryffindor common room. Hermione rolled her eyes as they entered and immediately returned to her work; Harry made a mental note to speak to his friend tomorrow, before remembering what a busy day he had scheduled.

Tomorrow he was going to reclaim a good portion of the Black fortune from two sisters who would be quite displeased with the outcome; hopefully, he'd also be retrieving one of Tom's Horcruxes.

_This is stupid. This is very, very stupid._ Harry said to Tom as he entered Gringotts.

_Which part is stupid? The sneaking out of Hogwarts after tea with Hagrid? Probably, as that might get the half-giant in trouble and revoke your right to leave the castle. The illegally Apparating to Diagon Alley while disguised with help from your Metamorph Medal? Yes, I admit that was pretty stupid, as you very well could have been splinched without adequate practice. However, we did assimilate Voldemort's memories of Apparition training, so it could have been dumber. The going to Gringotts to pull off one of the most politically charged financial deals since the inception of the Goblin Banking System? I find that quite exciting, but stupid could describe it. What can I say? I'm an adrenaline junkie._

_I'm not amused, Tom. I thought I'd leave my neck or something! And I know we wrote the goblins about this earlier and they prepared all the paperwork…but still, this is crazy!_ Harry exclaimed, trying to avoid the emotions from his mental discussion from his face; this was actually fairly easy as it wasn't his own face. Once again wearing the form of a 60-year old attractive gentlemen with an heir of importance – _Arrogance_, he teased Tom – he quickly made his way with a strut to the goblin bank, attempting to imitate the upturned nose he'd come to associate with Narcissa Malfoy – he believed it could be a Black trait, and decided not to chance it. Walking to the front of the line of goblins, he pompously declared, "I am Lord Black. I am here for a meeting with Griphook. He is expecting me." The goblin behind the counter summoned another goblin.

"Escort Lord Black to Conference Room Fourteen." Harry followed the short creature to the elegant conference room through the obsidian and gold wrought doors to sit at the massive oak table next to Griphook, the goblin he'd first met upon his introduction to the Wizarding World. Harry let the Metamorph Medal disguise melt away and greeted Griphook with a smile.

"Hello Griphook, how have you been?" Griphook unpleasantly raised an eyebrow and sneered.

"Fine, Mr. Potter. Or should I say Lord Black. Either way, we have much business to attend to. Gringotts has gone over your claim as the Head of the Black family, and the actions taken by Mr. Malfoy and Mrs. Lestrange give you full authority to claim the Black portions of their fortunes. In Mrs. Lestrange's case, this is fairly simple – since both her and her husband are escaped criminals, and yourself a Lord of a family, and actually distantly related to the Lestranges, you do in fact have a weak claim to the entirety of the Lestrange fortune. Both of the Lestrange brothers were, of course, incapable of contesting this without appearing in Gringotts themselves, which I rather doubted would occur. As the family has no heir, your claim has been recognized and you simply take possession of their vault. It is one of our most ancient vaults, and on nearly the deepest level of security. The Malfoy estate is…more complicated. Narcissa Malfoy nee Black is, as per standard, entitled to half of her husband's estate. Since you opted against taking the Malfoy Manor home here in Britain, you will possess two of their other properties in…it looks like a vineyard in Southern France and a villa in North Italy. Quite beautiful, I'm sure. You will also take possession of half of their funds here at Gringotts, sans a healthy processing fee, which Gringotts will take. Mr. Potter, I must ask once more purely for notation's sake; are you, being in sound mind, certain that this is the course of action you wish to pursue? Fully aware of the esoteric nature of this law and the political fallout it is likely to generate?" The goblin smiled evilly as he fully knew about the political fallout and thought that the uproar it would cause to be deliciously chaotic. He pushed the papers to Harry, who signed them with a flourish.

"Of course, Griphook. Now, I want to put all of the Lestrange money and half of the Malfoy money I took away in a fund for victims of Voldemort's terror. After I visit the Lestrange vault, which I just want to see." Harry said. He knew the Horcrux was in that vault, but was quite nervous about Voldemort's reaction when he found out that Harry Potter was now the owner of his Horcrux.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. Business was a pleasure. Is there anything else I can have done with your money?"

"Not right now, Griphook. Although can you send out teams to my new properties and change the wards to keep the Malfoys out? And probably send a cleaning team, who knows what kind of filth they live in. Make sure the press knows about the Voldemort Relief Fund, too. 'Death Eater money to go towards victims', I can see that as a good headline." Harry smiled. He was led towards the cart by Griphook, who carried a leather bag that shook noisily at every move the goblin made, and raced off to Bellatrix's vault. The trip took what seemed to be a very lengthy time, to Harry. Indeed, once the track fell away and they fell completely free of the track before landing on a lower track aided by a cushioning charm. Harry clung just a bit tighter to the cart after this. Finally, after traveling through a waterfall that didn't get them wet – "Only thieves get soaked by the Thieves' Downfall" – the cart began to slow.

"Here, make noise with these." Harry almost questioned why this was necessary, but then saw an enormous dragon with milky pink eyes facing them. He used the noisemaker fervently, and the dragon roared and meekly retreated.

Griphook stopped the cart in front of the Lestrange vault and stroked the door gently to open it. "Welcome to your new vault, Mr. Potter." Harry was astonished by the wealth before him. Ornate silver armor from the time of the Goblin Wars, jeweled flasks filled with rare potions, golden coins and goblets filling almost every part of the vault. Harry disregarded the treasure and looked for one specific cup he knew to be present. His eyes roamed the shelves of goblin armor, shields, and weapons until he saw it, near the top of the vault. A small gold cup engraved with a badger. The cup of Helga Hufflepuff, and one of the objects keeping Lord Voldemort's soul bound to this world. He conjured a ladder with only slight difficulty and ascended, finally taking down the cup.

He could feel the malevolence coming off the Horcrux; it was a tangible thing, Voldemort's evil, so concentrated as it was. Harry shuddered and quickly placed it in a velvet bag provided by Griphook.

"Of all the treasures in here, you choose this one to be most valuable?" The goblin questioned.

"Not valuable at all – I intend to destroy it, in fact. But I certainly don't think it the type of thing to be given to victims of Voldemort's terror." The goblin raised an eyebrow, but closed the door to the vault and, together with Harry, went careening along the track back to the main entrance of the Bank, where Harry once more took the face of Tom Riddle.

"Thank you once more for doing business with me, Griphook. May your gold ever flow."

"May your fortunes prosper, Lord Black. Or should I say Lord Black-Lestrange?" The goblin smiled sinisterly, causing Harry to smile uncomfortably and walk away quickly, leaving the Alley for the grounds of Hogwarts near Hogsmeade.

"Harry! Where have you been all day? Were you in the Room of Requirement? We've been looking all over for you, and so has Katie!" Hermione bombarded him as he walked into the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey, Hermione. Well, I've been a few places; I did go up to the Room of Requirement for a bit," and it was true, he'd just visited there to put the cup with Ravenclaw's diadem for safekeeping, "and before that I was with Hagrid having some tea and then strolled around the grounds by the lake. Is everything all right?" Again, both true…certain parts were just omitted.

"Oh sure, Harry, you're missing and no one has any idea where you might be…thought Voldemort showed up and KILLED you…other than that we're just fine here!" She turned away and stormed off, leaving Harry to face Katie.

"Hey, sorry I didn't tell anyone, I didn't think I'd be spending so long around the grounds. But it was pretty out there, so what can I say?" He said while flashing her a smile.

"No worries, Harry…I just thought you might have liked to hold off on a stroll around the grounds until you might be accompanied by the girl you just yesterday asked out…" She began, looking innocent.

"And you would certainly be correct. So, Ms. Bell, would you care to accompany me on another stroll around the lake?" He offered her his arm, which she took, and the two of them spent the afternoon sitting by the lake talking – Katie was very interested to hear about some of Harry's adventures first hand – and occasionally snogging. They returned in time for dinner, where they only had to compete with Hermione's occasional disapproving glare. Shortly after dinner, Harry found it was time for his first appointment with Professor Dumbledore. Harry hurried to the spot in the seventh-floor corridor where stood against the wall a single gargoyle with a particularly insulting expression on its face.

"Acid Pops," Harry said; the gargoyle silently snarled at him, but leapt aside obediently to the side of the wall that was splitting apart to reveal a moving spiral staircase. Harry stepped on to the bottom step and was smoothly raised up to the door with the brass knocker, which he rapt on smartly three times.

"Come in," he heard Dumbledore's voice call to him.

"Good evening, sir," Harry started respectfully.

"Ah, good evening, Harry, have a seat. Would you care for a lemon drop?" Harry accepted with a smile, and Dumbledore continued, "Have you had a pleasant first week of school?"

"Well, sir, it's actually been quite eventful, and I have several things that need your attention." He said firmly.

"Is that so? Well, why don't you get started – we have much to discuss this night." Dumbledore said with a small smile.

"Yes, sir. When I went to Diagon Alley earlier this summer with the Weasleys, Ron and I followed Draco Malfoy into Borgin and Burke's, in Knockturn Alley."

"Truly? I believe I asked you to keep safe this summer with the Weasleys. Do you think that sneaking into Knockturn Alley was a particularly safe venture, Harry?" Dumbledore spoke in a disappointed tone.

"No, sir, but it was worth it. Draco revealed that he has been Marked by Voldemort," Dumbledore merely nodded – Snape must have revealed this to him, "And he intends to instigate a Death Eater invasion of Hogwarts." At this last proclamation, Dumbledore's eyes did indeed widen and his eyebrows raised into his hairline.

"How did you learn this, Harry; even Severus hasn't been privy to Draco's plan." Dumbledore leaned forward in anticipation.

"At Borgin and Burke's, he enquired about how to fix a Vanishing Cabinet. One of which was for sale in his shop, and the other is the one that Peeves broke in my second year, and that the twins shoved Montague into last year. That was when Draco figured out the connection. Also, Draco was interested in this cursed necklace, so I'd watch out for that. Anyway, Draco now spends most of his days in the Room of Requirement trying to fix the Cabinet. He's making slow progress, slower since I've been re-cursing it on occasion, but he's going to have it fixed eventually, I'd estimate before Christmas. When we were in the shop, he mentioned taking the one for sale there home with him, so the two options are either that he'd use it to smuggle Dark artifacts from the shop to attack the school, or take it home and use it as a gateway for the Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts and attack. And I think that you and I both know their ultimate goal." Harry finished seriously.

"Harry, you are perfectly safe in the school; I will take measures against Draco's success in this –"

"No, Professor, it's not me." Dumbledore looked questioningly at Harry.

"You're the target now, Professor. I may be a threat to Voldemort's immortality because of the prophecy, but you're a threat to his ruling the world. He's seen how troublesome I can be, so he's going after you first; once he controls Britain, he'll be able to get me with impunity. It makes sense, if you think about it. Also, I don't think we should interfere in Draco's plan just yet – that way, we can form a counter plan. If we squash his plan now, then he'll come up with a better one we know nothing about." Harry finished. Dumbledore nodded seriously in agreement.

"Well, Harry. I knew that I was a target, and a prime one at that, but I certainly didn't think that I'd be higher priority than you!" Dumbledore managed to smile.

"I know…I've been his number one target for so long, I think I'm a tad jealous, Professor." Dumbledore chuckled slightly.

"You seem to have a rather firm grasp on Voldemort's psyche, Harry." Harry locked down on his Occlumency to prevent anything showing on his face.

"Well, I have been entering his mind for a year now…and he entering mine, unfortunately. I've finally managed to recognize that, by the way, and with the help of Occlumency I don't think he can get me any more." Truthfully it was the Horcrux's total separation from Harry's mind that destroyed any link between the enemies, but Harry felt no need to tell Dumbledore about that just yet.

"Excellent, Harry; and may I just say that your Occlumency is progressing wonderfully, I'm quite impressed. Now, was there something else you wished to discuss as I think over the information about Draco that you've given me?" Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Yes, sir. What are you going to tell me about the curse on your hand from that new ring of yours?" Harry said, he and Tom both praying that Dumbledore had found a way to fight the Curse of the Withering.

"Ah, always observant, Harry. Why do you think my hand was cursed, and why suspect the ring?" Dumbledore questioned while his eyes twinkled playfully.

"I do have access to the Black library, Professor, which has many books on Dark curses. The Curse of the Withering can only be placed on an object, not directly on a person. And when you came to my aunt and uncle's house, you were sporting that ring and a withered hand – I don't think it's a brilliant leap of logic to connect the dots."

"My, you have done your homework, my boy. How much do you know about the Curse?"

"Enough to know that you shouldn't be alive right now even if you'd put on the ring and withered your hand a moment before you picked me up. You shouldn't even have lasted until the end of our conversation with Slughorn. Combined with the fact that when you picked me up, the curse only affected your hand but now it goes halfway up your forearm, and I'd say that you've found a way to delay but not cure the Curse. From everything I've read, that's quite a feat in and of itself, but curing it should be impossible." Dumbledore, as he had only a few times before, looked his age. Harry realized that carrying such a burden, a literal death sentence, must have been terrifying even for one such as Dumbledore.

"Indeed, I have been told as much. With the aid of Severus, I was able to…postpone the worst effects of the curse."

"But I'm sure that bearing the curse is not easy." Harry said gently.

"Indeed it is not. It saps my strength at every turn, Harry. Every spell I cast causes the curse to spread, so I have not been using magic if I can at all help it." _Well there goes combat training with Dumbledore_, Harry and Tom thought simultaneously.

"So how long do you have, Professor?" Harry truly dreaded the answer to this question.

"Severus has assured me that I will be dead by early July. Likely quite a bit earlier, but he found a potion that, for now, has slowed the Curse's progress considerably." Harry took this revelation in stride – forcing the thoughts from his mind as he cleared it to prevent tears from blurring his vision. His mentor would not be there the following year – what would Hogwarts be like without Dumbledore at the helm?

"But on to slightly more cheerful things, Harry. I will be teaching you all that I know about Voldemort. You will, hopefully, gain insight into his character and be able to use that knowledge to effectively fight him." Harry thought this incredibly ironic, as it was absolutely the last thing in the world that he needed, with Tom sitting in his head with him. Revealing this, however, was not yet deemed prudent by Harry, so he came up with another idea just as Dumbledore was pulling out silvery threads and placing them in his Pensieve.

"Professor, er…would it be possible for me to have the Pensieve for now and look at the memories on my own with Ron and Hermione – I mean, they have to know all this anyway, so it might save time. Plus, you're looking mightily tired and worn thin, so why don't you get some rest tonight? We can go over what I find in the memories at our next meeting, thus making them more productive."

"Alright, Harry, that sounds like it would actually provide us with more time for discussion and extrapolation; but keep these memories very safe – to have them fall into the wrong hands would be disastrous." Dumbledore said vaguely. Tom wondered just which memories Dumbledore thought provided such a crucial picture of Voldemort. Dumbledore provided labeled phials for each memory and went over them carefully with Harry.

"This first memory is from a man named Bob Ogden, and shows Tom Riddle's mother Merope Gaunt, her brother Morfin, and her father Marvolo, and also gives a look at Tom's father." _My mum?_ Tom said in a way that made him sound much younger than a sixty year old grown man.

"Did Tom ever see this memory? Or any memory of his parents?" Harry quickly interrupted the aged wizard. Dumbledore seemed honestly shocked at the question.

"No, Harry…I don't believe he could have. I myself did not come into possession of it until after he attacked you the first time. Why do you ask?" Harry did look a bit sheepish at this question – it was mostly Tom asking why he hadn't shown him as a boy.

"I…I just think he'd have liked it, you know…since he was an orphan, he probably never knew his parents, just like me." Dumbledore smiled softly and pulled out one additional memory in a phial.

"This second memory is my own, from the day I first met young Tom Riddle as I delivered his letter at an orphanage. This is the memory of Morfin Gaunt, gotten at great trouble by myself, of when Tom Riddle once more visited the Gaunt House. And this is a questionable memory of Tom Riddle asking Horace Slughorn about Horcruxes. I will, of course, answer your questions at our next meeting." Dumbledore said as he shrunk his Pensieve for Harry.

"And what was that last memory, Professor?" Harry asked about the memory Dumbledore pulled out of his mind after Harry asked his question.

"Ah, that is a compilation of memories that I have of your own parents. If you would like additional memories, Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, Sprout, Slughorn, and Snape all knew your parents in some capacity and may be willing to share. And now, up to the dormitory with you. Try not to stay up too late, Harry." Dumbledore said in dismissal.

"Thank you, Professor. And I'm sorry to hear about your hand. See you later, Fawkes," Harry petted the phoenix gently as he passed, and walked out the door down the stairs and passed the gargoyle, Dumbledore following the boy out of his office with his eyes.

"He certainly has become more observant, hasn't he, Fawkes. Amazingly intuitive for one so young. Though he has been forced to grow up rather quickly…" Fawkes chirped in agreement and Dumbledore returned to read ever more books he'd confiscated long ago about Horcruxes.

Harry snuck into Gryffindor tower under his cloak, and spent the night watching memories swim by him as he remembered them shamefully. He was still reliving them as the castle woke up to the Sunday morning edition of the Daily Prophet to a headline that shocked all of the Hogwarts population and enraged one member in particular:

_Boy-Who-Lived Confiscates Funds From Convicted Death Eaters, Donates to Victim Relief Fund!_


	7. Reactions and Lessons

Thank you once again for all the kind support and reviews. Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Seven: Reactions and Lessons

Sunday morning breakfast at Hogwarts was usually a rather lazy affair, with many of the students treating it more like a brunch; this often caused students to take their owls in their own common room. Once those owls were delivered this first complete Sunday of term, however, students all raced down to the Great Hall to see just how Draco Malfoy was taking the news. They were not disappointed.

Harry Potter sat calmly at the Gryffindor table sitting a cup of tea, dressed rather casually in a simple lounge robe and absorbing the conversation when a red-faced Malfoy tore his way into the Great Hall, eyes bright with fury as he glared at Potter and raced towards him, unaware or uncaring of the massive number of students flooding the Hall in anticipation of this very confrontation.

"POTTER! What the bloody hell is the meaning of this?" He shoved the paper in Harry's face. Harry calmly accepted the paper that Draco shoved at him and made to read the front page slowly.

"Don't act that way! You know exactly what I'm talking about! You stole my money!" Draco screamed. By now he had attracted the attention of every student in the hall, who whispered excitedly in anticipation, in addition to the teachers – Professors Snape, McGonagall, and Flitwick were all on their way to prevent a very public brawl from occurring.

"I think you'll find that you're mistaken, dear cousin. I was, regrettably, forced to use my authority as the Head of such a noble House to commandeer the funds of certain Death Eaters with relations to those houses to set up a Victim's Relief Fund for the survivors and families of the victims of Death Eater attacks. I personally have neither need nor desire for all that much wealth, I assure you, but I do not think it fair that such victims are left helpless to fend for themselves. The goblins will administer the fund, so if you believe yourself such a victim and in need of financial assistance, they will be of service to you. However, I believe that half of your fortune – a substantial sum, I know – is still in your possession, so count your luck."

"You think you'll get away with this, Potter?" Draco finally pulled his wand, which Harry fully expected and was ready for, and silently let loose an eerily familiar burst of purple – it seemed Draco had gotten lessons from Dolohov – that Harry batted away with a swift motion of his wand. The curse impacted the wall some twenty feet above the students, leaving dark scorch marks in a sinister pattern. He was about to curse again when Snape, of all people, grabbed his student's arm and shot him a look that may have killed him on the spot.

"You won't get away with this, Potter, the Dark Lord will get his revenge!" Draco screamed and spittle flew from his foaming mouth in his insane rage. _Must have inherited the unstable side from dear Bella_, Tom mused. Draco's words, however, struck a bit of a chord with Harry, who sincerely hoped that Voldemort's anger would just be focused on him, and others wouldn't be forced to suffer. Snape grabbed the back of Malfoy's robes after finally wrestling his arm down and marched him away; anyone who was watching would have seen five stones that keep track of points subtract themselves from the Slytherin pool – the first time Snape had ever subtracted points from Slytherin. Of course, most teachers would have taken more than five points for using Dark Magic in anger against another student in the Great Hall, but Harry thought it quite impressive for Snape.

"Mister Potter, are you alright?" Professor McGonagall asked, knowing the answer.

"Just fine, Professor, thank you. And how are you?" Harry asked with a dazzling grin, as though he hadn't just impressively countered a Dark spell.

"Quite well, Mr. Potter. I was quite impressed with your little fund, Mr. Potter, it was a very good thing you did." Professor McGonagall walked away as Professor Dumbledore himself walked up.

"I believe the spectacle is over and that you all should get back to your breakfasts." He said in an amplified voice. At a lower decibel he continued, "I was most surprised by this morning's paper, Harry; any reason you failed to mention your goblin correspondence last evening?" His smile was quite amused under his beard.

"Well, Professor, it must have slipped my mind. It certainly wasn't as important as the other topics we discussed." Harry said, resuming his grin.

"I think Mr. Malfoy might disagree with you…in any case, enjoy your brunch, Harry." Professor Dumbledore elegantly glided away with mirth in his eyes. Harry, however, was just about finished, and promised his fellow Gryffindors that he would be in the common room. As he walked through the door, he saw the disapproving face of Hermione – a face she'd shown him far too often lately, so he walked up to her.

"Hermione, come with me, we need to talk." She muttered something to the effects of, "Oh do we?" before obediently acquiescing at his hard glare. Making his way to the training room, he opened it as she said, "Oh, one girl to snog isn't enough, Harry, need to have your way with me, too?"

"What's that about?" He said evenly, attempting to ignore the barbs from his best friend.

"What's this about? I thought you were responsible enough not to abuse the use of this training room, but then there I find you and Katie, scantily clad and snogging as I walk in!" Harry seemed nonplussed.

"And what crime is that? Katie and I happened to share a kiss – our first kiss, I might add – in here after a long day of training and me finally asking her out to Hogsmeade next time we go. And I ask you please not to imply that I'm sitting here snogging different girls every day or something like that, because I'd have sworn that my best friend knew me better than that! Even Ron isn't giving me the trouble you are, and I'd like to know what your problem is!"

"My problem is YOU! I'm working my arse off all day every day and barely keeping afloat in my classes! You, meanwhile, are somehow beating me in every class you attend! Potions: you discover a book and _somehow_ manage to understand every modification in there, while even I have to look up half of their effects! Transfiguration: McGonagall suddenly has a new favorite as you flirt horribly with her and present her with excellent examples of extraordinarily difficult transfiguration that I _know_ you didn't work on this summer, don't even lie to me about that! What's next? Charms: Flitwick squeals every time you move there!" She said with a roll of her watery eyes, "And Defense at least I can understand, I saw you working with Moody there. But the rest of it just doesn't make any bloody sense! And I don't want to fall behind in any of my classes but I just can't compete with how easily you understand everything and I'm taking other classes that are really giving me trouble and oh –" Harry enveloped his fragile friend in a hug and soothingly ran his hand along the back of her head, encouraging her as she erupted into tears on his shoulder. It was time for Harry now, not Tom, though Tom would maybe help some.

"Hermione, listen to me, you're brilliant, really you are! So brilliant, and I can't even compare to you! Look, you've helped me so much through all the years, I never would have gotten here without you. And you're right, I didn't really practice much over the summer in Transfiguration or Charms, but I did practice in dueling constantly and in Occlumency. And dueling has made me more magically powerful, so all that kind of magic is really easy for me to do, I don't have to force the magic out or anything. Occlumency helps me tremendously in Transfiguration by helping me focus on the thing I want to transfigure in all its details. Really, McGonagall told me, with better Occlumency my focus just makes the whole subject easier; its just a matter of learning some theory. And since I have such a light load of classes – no Arithmancy or Ancient Runes essays, which I know are really tough – I just have more time to do that theory groundwork and look up Potions effects. And I don't know all of them immediately, I have to look them up all the time!"

"Oh, Harry, I'm just so worried that I'm not doing well if I'm not keeping up with the class, and I really need to do well on my N.E.W.T.s, so I just think I'm not keeping up!" Harry continued the clingy embrace with his friend to calm her down.

"Of course you'll do wonderfully, Hermione, you shouldn't doubt that. I'm telling you, it's just a few silly tricks I learned over the summer, in addition to me not taking a killer course load, that's keeping my head above water." He said with an easy grin straight from Tom.

"Keeping your head above water? Oh Harry, you're doing brilliantly, really! I'm so proud of you, I hope you don't think I'm jealous or something silly like that! I just…I want to do as well as you now, that's my new goal, and I'm failing miserably!" Harry knew there probably was a slight element of jealousy that she didn't want to admit, but patted her back anyway.

"Anyway, Hermione, I didn't get a chance to tell you last night, but I talked with Dumbledore about his hand – we were right, Curse of the Withering. Snape's whipped up a potion, but it's not permanent. We don't…no one can tell how un-permanent it is…" Hermione looked saddened immensely by this, and hugged Harry closer.

"Oh, Harry, that's awful! I just can't imagine! Dumbledore…" Harry felt the same way. The Headmaster was such a constant force in life that Harry couldn't imagine what life would be like without him. Well, he had a few nightmares about being on-the-run from Voldemort without Dumbledore's protections, but no real clue as to what it would be like.

On that note, the friends spent the morning in comfortable discussion about the Headmaster's enlightening lesson. Hermione seemed most interested in getting to know more about Voldemort so that they could understand him as a person, and Harry promised that he would show his friends the memories. However, this did bring up a rather disappointing thought to Harry's mind: what was he going to do about Katie, when the time came for him to ultimately be enemy number one to Voldemort? Would he risk her as a prime target for his wrath? Could he protect her? Should he break things off to keep the wonderful girl, who'd suffered so much, safe? His afternoon was plagued with these thoughts, the only ones he wouldn't share with Hermione right now. The trio spent the evening perusing the various collected memories from Dumbledore as Katie worked on homework and wondered just where her new best friend had run off to.

Voldemort did not read the _Daily Prophet_, believing such things beneath him. Voldemort made news, he did not read about the actions of less important wizards. After all, he was the most powerful wizard in the world, and what use were Quidditch results to him? No, any news of import would undoubtedly revolve around him or his minions anyway, and he likely would have planned it for months.

Bellatrix Lestrange, however, liked to see how the sheep amused themselves in between slaughters. They were so foolish, dawdling about with their ridiculous sport – such a waste of time, riding broomsticks; the only real sport Bella enjoyed was Muggle-hunting – but she was able to laugh at Fudge's, now Scrimgeour's, incompetence and other such amusements. When the _Prophet_ used to interview Lucius, she thought it hysterical despite her hatred for the man.

Today, however, Bellatrix Lestrange did not find the headline of the _Prophet_ to be very amusing at all.

"WHAT!? Steal my fortune? Wha-how?" Her initial reaction of utter outrage quickly turned to disbelief. Surely this boy had not one iota of knowledge about pureblood inheritance. And yet, as she read the article again, more closely, over and over, there it was, spelled out in writing. She wrote an owl off to Gringotts to be sure, and got an answer that night.

Empty. Her vault. Oh, the galleons were meaningless to her, the treasures easily replaced once her Lord overthrew the government and forced the goblins to do his bidding, which he undoubtedly would do. However, there was one object in her vault that her Lord had entrusted to her. One of his own treasures that she and Rodolphus had reverently placed in their own vault for safe-keeping. No one knew they had done so besides Lord Voldemort himself; she was a very trusted servant, above all others, and so this treasure was kept secret. Indeed, it was a most ancient treasure from the time of the Founders of Hogwarts – priceless, of course, one of the few remaining artifacts of the era. Despite the fact that it was only from Hufflepuff and not one of Salazar Slytherin's artifacts, she still understood why her Lord wanted to keep such an object safe.

But now…her face whitened considerably when she realized that she had failed. For the first time, she had totally and utterly failed at a task set to her by her Lord. And it was a most important task too, he'd assured her of that. He could trust no others besides Rodolphus and herself; she knew that without her, Rodolphus would never have been trusted with the object. No, she was her Master's favorite, most skilled, a powerful witch and a fearsome opponent. Her name evoked terror in the hearts of all polite Wizarding society, and much of the less-than-polite Wizarding underworld. And she failed. For the first time, she felt fear and trepidation as she prepared herself for announcing her failure to her Master. It must be done in private, he would not wish others to know about his treasure.

Bellatrix slowly approached the room in Lucius' Manor – it really reminded Bella of the arrogant man she loathed, her only real competition for her Master's favor for years – but was interrupted by her sister.

"Bella, did you hear? It's awful, that awful boy! He took half of the estate! We had a villa in Italy that was just wonderful to visit, lovely view of the Mediterranean, of course, Draco loved it there. And he took our vineyard in France, can you imagine? Grapes bred for almost 800 years at _Chateau Malfoi_ and now it's all in the hands of that terrible Mudblood boy! And he's set up some kind of fund administered by goblins – goblins! – that he's wasting our money on. And he cleaned yours out entirely! Claimed that since you have no heir, and with Rodolphus and Rastaban convicted criminals, the estate passes to him! I couldn't believe…why, when my Lucius was around, such a thing would never have happened; he'd have stopped that nonsense immediately!" Cissy spat out all of this extraordinarily quickly.

"Cissy! I don't have time for this now! I must see our Lord, it is of vital importance!" Narcissa looked downtrodden at this. She had been a virtual prisoner in her own Manor now ever since the incident at the Ministry. Lord Voldemort had, because of her husband's failure to obtain the prophecy, taken over and moved in. Even her poor, dear little Draco had been Marked and forced into that awful task. Oh, the whole thing still gave her nightmares, it was truly a mother's worst fear. Her baby, all alone, sent on a death mission by Voldemort. At least she'd talked to Severus – he'd always been so good with Draco, as his godfather. She'd even gotten an Unbreakable Vow from him – to Narcissa, this just proved his trustworthiness despite Bella's objections. Narcissa slowly retreated back to her rooms as her sister left her to talk with her Lord. Not Narcissa's Lord; she realized that after Voldemort ordered Draco to his almost assured death. Never Narcissa's Lord.

And her beautiful Manor had suffered so…It was once Narcissa's pride to own a home that every reader of _Witch Weekly_ envied. Now, however, not even the house elves, which were reduced in number between that awful Potter and Voldemort himself killing them, could keep her Manor immaculate. Whatever happened to the ranks of the Death Eaters to make them so uncivilized? Surely when her Lucius was in charge, _he_ never would have let such awful creatures – a _werewolf_, how_awful_ – into their Manor. Lucius had spoken with Greyback before, but never let the foul thing in her _house_! And he wasn't technically even a Death Eater, Voldemort at least had the good sense to not want to touch his wand to the foul thing. But oh! He did leave a mess behind, and such an awful smell, as well. Her manor may not ever be the same, a thought which depressed her more each day.

How she longed for the days before Voldemort's return, she realized. When Lucius was just a Hogwart's Governor – well, proxy, really, for his ill father now deceased – and an upstanding, prominent citizen with the Minister's ear. Things were so much simpler back then…

"What did you say, Bella?" Voldemort froze. Surely he hadn't heard what he thought just came out of Bellatrix's mouth.

"My Lord, I'm so sorry –"

"_Crucio!_" Bella so rarely felt the sting of her Lord's curse that the agony tore through her in a thrilling way. "Repeat. Yourself. Now." Voldemort's anger was palpable, terrible, and it was almost more than he could stand not to destroy his most valuable servant where she stood.

"It was Potter! He stole my vault at Gringotts! And some of the Malfoy fortune as well! He is to set up a relief fund for the Mudbloods we attack!" Bellatrix was on her knees crying now, begging her Lord's terrible fury – which caused everything in the room to shake horribly – to spare her.

"Are you telling me, Bella, that my treasure – one of my most valuable treasures I entrusted to you – is now in the possession of orphans whose parents and widows whose husbands I've killed? Is that who is now guarding my treasure, Bella? WIDOWS AND ORPHANS?" Voldemort's unnaturally high voice rose in an awful crescendo as he shouted his last words in what must have been a magically amplified scream. Bellatrix, terrified by his unholy display, could only nod weakly.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Windows shattered and decorations around the room were obliterated as Voldemort's wrath was fully let loose.

The Death Eaters stood outside the door to their Lord's study in fear. Bangs and noises were made behind those closed doors. These were not uncommon noises, by any means, but their volume and the duration of their Lord's anger showed that something very unexpected happened that displeased their Lord greatly. The doors finally opened as a bloody body was flung through them – sweet Merlin, was that _Bellatrix_? – and their Lord stalked out.

"Leave her. We are going to kill Mudbloods. We're leaving now." Voldemort advanced on the nearest Death Eater and drove his wand into the man's Dark Mark viciously, turning it dark black with a burning red outline on the surrounding skin; the Death Eater quivered in pain, but was just smart enough to not cry out in pain, which surely would have evoked the wrath of his Lord.

After but a few moments, Voldemort's loyal minions Apparated to him and he snarled, "Tonight we kill Mudbloods – we will make them afraid to walk openly in the street! Attack the parents of students at Hogwarts, the ones out of Hogwarts, any you can find! Leave no survivors this night! Now, name me victims!" Voldemort surveyed his Death Eaters, prodding them to speak.

"Sir, the Quidditch rosters for the Hogwarts teams provide many names! I remember a few from when I attended games with Theodore – Abblebee, Jones, Cauldwell, Hooper, Fleet." Voldemort nodded, "Fine, all fine, but more!"

"My Lord, my sons have mentioned a few Ravenclaw Mudbloods who exceed his grades in some classes! Ackerley, Carmichael, Corner, Entwhistle, and Page!" Voldemort smiled evilly, "Fine, but more! Find every Mudblood you can, and attack them! Harry Potter thinks he will provide relief to our victims with our own money, but we will show him that he will only cause their deaths!" Voldemort cackled evilly as his Death Eaters planned the attack on their first victims of the night.

Harry woke up in a cold sweat – it had been ages since he was drawn to Voldemort; it seemed that his Occlumency was not perfect, and that Voldemort was angrier than he'd ever been. Harry quickly put on his battle robes – he would not sit back idly this time – and his invisibility cloak as he ran through the portrait to the Headmaster's Office.

_Tom, why was I able to see Voldemort's thoughts? I thought since you were separate that couldn't happen! Are you starting to reintegrate?_ Harry thought to his constant companion as he raced to the Headmaster.

_No, Harry, I am not sure. Voldemort can't send you any visions now, though I could have told you he was angry…there must be some other kind between you._ Harry thought this mightily disturbing.

_Like between our wands?_ Harry thought.

_No, that shouldn't have an effect…of course! He used your blood! Together with the rebounded Killing Curse…maybe…he could be some kind of bastardized Horcrux for you or something, I'm not sure! But it would explain how you can get to his head just as he can get to yours!_ Harry was most disturbed by the thought that his own soul was fractured – maybe not as fractured as Voldemort's, but fractured nonetheless. However, he had no time to dwell on it as he finally arrived outside Dumbledore's office.

"Acid Pops! Open, damn you!" The gargoyle leapt aside and Harry bounded up the moving stairs and knocked loudly on Dumbledore's door, unwittingly channeling his magic to create a resounding 'Boom' at every knock. Dumbledore quickly answered his harsh banging to reveal his flowery-patterned lilac pajamas to Harry, who would have found them amusing at any other time.

"Voldemort's mad about the money – he just found out – and he's going to attack every Muggle-born and Half-blood he can! They named a bunch of Hogwarts students families as targets: Jones, Hooper, Fleet, Corner, Entwhistle, and Ackerley. There were more but I don't remember! Please, Professor, we have to help them!" Harry frantically said.

"Hold on, Harry; you had a vision?" Dumbledore seemed impossibly calm – did he not understand that because of Harry, hundreds might die? _Well, maybe that was a slight exaggeration_, Tom corrected.

_Shut up, Tom. Because of what I did, people are going to die – innocent people. I have to help. I will not let Voldemort do this!_ Harry snarled at his cerebral companion; Tom backed away, realizing when Harry wasn't in the mood to hear a logical argument.

"Yes, I had a vision! Voldemort's attacking, you have to get them to safety!" Dumbledore once again looked his age – it was happening more often these days.

"Harry, I have no way to fend off dozens of simultaneous attacks; at best, the Order members would just be additional victims. I will do what I can, but I am afraid that letters will not reach most in time, if it is such an imminent attack as you say." Dumbledore seemed to look honestly sorry as he gently broke this news to Harry, but Harry didn't notice.

"Wha- so you're just going to condemn them to death? You're not even going to try? What the bloody hell is wrong with you? Don't you realize that this is my fault? Where's the bloody list of student addresses – I know you have one! I'll save them myself!" Harry shoved past the old wizard into his office, and looked around frantically until his eyes fell on a magical parchment and quill sitting on a desk in a far corner of the office. He raced over there and rifled through the lengthy parchment to the current year's Hogwarts letter mailing list. He looked up all the students whose name he could remember and then made for the door, only to find Dumbledore once more in his way.

"Harry, I understand what you're feeling –" Dumbledore started. Harry noticed Phineas Nigellus, the former Black Headmaster, roll his eyes – he always said that teenagers hated to be understood, preferring to dwell on their own angst.

"No you don't! I caused this! It's all my fault, and I will not allow others to suffer just because Voldemort can't get to me! Now either alert the Order or get out of my way." He growled this last sentence, and there was magical power in his words as he issued a stern command, enough to even cause Dumbledore some concern as the hair on his arms rose slightly.

"I'm afraid that I cannot allow that, Harry." Dumbledore stood firm with his arms crossed across his chest. Harry's eyes narrowed and he spun around, his eyes falling upon the window behind Dumbledore's desk. He leapt onto and off of the stately desk, firing a powerful Bludgeoning Hex to shatter the window before he took a swan dive out the window and off the tower.

Dumbledore's eyes widened as he stood dumb-founded. He turned to Fawkes, who was also staring out the window in surprise, and said, "Well…that was most unexpected." He rushed to the window to see Harry wave his wand as he fell, slowing his momentum enough that he was able to land on his feet and take off at a run for the edge of the wards.

"A most extraordinary display of magic, Mr. Potter…" Dumbledore said to himself. He shot a silver phoenix out of his wand and sent it along to Minerva, letting her know that Harry had left the castle without permission and that he was attempting to rectify the situation. Hurrying, he bustled out of his office after Fawkes perched on his shoulder.

After hitting the edge of the Hogwarts grounds in the forest and Apparating away to the first of his classmates' homes, Harry found himself in the yard of the Ackerley family, and that he'd arrived almost simultaneously with two Death Eaters, which should have been more than enough to deal with the two Muggles. He almost subconsciously had shifted to his 'Tom' physical persona with the help of his Metamorph Medal and unleashed his arsenal at the Death Eaters, who were previously oblivious to his presence. Stunning them easily with one of his modified stunners, he left with a soft 'pop' – it got softer every time – and found himself almost instantly in the yard of the Jones'. He knew Megan from a few of his classes.

Tears filled his eyes when he saw the Dark Mark hovering sinisterly, but then he heard spell-fire from inside and hoped that he wasn't too late; the Jones' must have been attacked before the Ackerley family, because he hadn't taken long to disable them – not long enough for the damage present to occur.

"_Crucio!_ Squeal, you Mudblood bitch!" The Death Eater laughed until he was hit by Harry's Bone-Shattering Spell directly in the upper back; Harry should have cringed when he was sprayed with blood, gore, and bone fragments that exploded out of the man, but felt nothing. The other Death Eater turned and Harry got his first real duel of the evening.

"Who are you? _Crucio! Everbero!_" Harry easily stepped to the side of the passing Unforgivable curse and silently sent off a powerful Bludgeoning curse just as he was hit by the Death Eater's own. The Death Eater's hit Harry's right hip and he knew it would leave a nasty bruise, but Harry's sent the obviously amateur Death Eater through the exterior wall of the Jones' house. Harry noticed that one parent was lying still on the floor, but had to move on and could spare nothing but an "_Episkey_," for the conscious parent. He quietly Disapparated to the next of his classmates' houses.

It was quite obvious that this house belonged to two wizards, as there was no car in the driveway or other suspiciously Muggle trappings; must have been a second generation Muggle-born or Half-blood. It was the Corner household, Harry knew – Michael dated Ginny last year and was now dating Cho. His parents were barricaded in the house with the Death Eaters assaulting the outside.

"_Reducto!_" One Death Eater – this one's voice Tom recognized – yelled and laughed as the parents shrieked in terror and the door exploded inward. There were likely once wards around this house that were battered down previously in the attack, and now the house itself was taking the brunt of the assault. Tom recollected that this Death Eater's name was Gibbon – a new recruit before Tom's fall, but he could have improved since. When his companion shot off a spell, Harry identified him as Amycus Carrow, who would be a somewhat challenging opponent for Harry. Unfortunately for him, one of the Death Eaters must have spotted him out of the corner of his eye and sent a curse that made Harry dive out of the way. His hip flared angrily at this abuse of its already wounded status.

"_Reducto!_" "_Crucio!_" The two Death Eaters shouted before he was able to recover well enough to fire off any retaliatory spells. He leapt out of the way of the Unforgivable, which put him right in the path of the Reductor curse, which sent him flying as it impacted his chest. With a slight groan, he forced himself up and silently erected an _Absolvo_ shield that absorbed the two additional Reductor curses sent his way.

"_Expulso!_" Harry said, which flung both of the Death Eaters against the house, but didn't really damage them.

"_Crucio!_" He heard one spell launched at him, but saw two – Carrow must have nonverbally let one loose – Harry avoided the effects of both with judicious use of an _Imprimis_ shield that resounded like a gong as Carrow's spell impacted it – his hip wouldn't allow him to dodge very well any more.

"_Soporo!_" Harry yelled out his blue stunning spell, which quickly struck Gibbon and knocked him flat; _he won't be getting up for about two weeks_, Harry thought ruefully. His thoughts were interrupted as Carrow once more got the best of him with his injury and he took a fierce blow to the head.

"_Crucio!_" Harry writhed on the ground as his entire body erupted in pain, recovering enough to hear laughter when the curse let up.

Shakily getting up, his hip disagreeing, and trying not to fall back down, Harry barely noticed when a spell impacted his left arm; he only saw blood squirt from his stump and hardly felt any pain at all until he was back on his back – had Carrow hit him again? He hadn't noticed – and saw a bleeding forearm that looked oddly familiar lying beside him. He realized that he was back in his own body when he saw his arm, but had not the strength to hide from Carrow any longer. He tried to get back up but was quite incapable of it – the ground seemed to be in at least two places at once and moving.

"That's quite enough, Amycus." Said another familiar voice; Harry was unfortunately in no state to identify it.

"Dumbledore! How'd you get – I'm outta here!" A sharp 'crack' was heard as he left.

"Harry, Harry, can you hear me?" Harry could indeed hear the Headmasters – there were four that he counted, all in identical blue robes, how odd – but merely groaned in response. Dumbledore gently levitated Harry and picked up his arm, surrounding it before touching it to Harry and causing them both to disappear as the portkey removed them to Hogwarts infirmary.

Harry came back to consciousness without opening his eyes as he reflected back and tried to remember what happened to lead him to the infirmary. He surmised that was where he was located due to the intense pain that wracked his body, the hospital-clean smell, and the comfortable beds – the latter two ruling out Death Eater capture, thank Merlin. A small groan escaped his lips, and a concerned Madam Pomfrey greeted his eyes when he finally opened them.

"Don't you move, Mr. Potter! You had severe head trauma! Can you see alright?" Deciding to use Tom's charm, he smiled through the pain and said, "I don't know – are you really an angel that somehow healed me in the Hogwarts infirmary?" She rolled her eyes and cast a few spells over him.

"Quite funny, I'm sure, Mr. Potter. I really couldn't believe the state you were in! If it were anyone else I'd have been surprised at their survival, but you do seem to be able to bounce back from terrible injuries like no other I've seen!" As memories flashed before him, mostly thanks to Tom, who'd stayed slightly more coherent than himself after the blow to the head, he questioned his state more directly.

"How's my arm? And my hip and chest were hit pretty bad too." She nodded at him.

"I'm surprised you remember that much after your massive concussion. Do try to avoid curses to the head, next time, by the way. Luckily, Severus knew of the Dark curse that detached your arm and split your side open and he was able to quickly counter it. He said that with liberal use of dittany you may be able to avoid terrible scarring, but you've enough of that already, so maybe you don't care. Your ribs – five of them were cracked, by the way – are fully healed, as is your hip. Your hip, however, was a complicated process that's still healing fully, and I want you to use a cane for at least two days. Your arm also had some nerve damage that's yet to be healed, you'll notice decreased sensation and an inability to control your muscles well. That's what we'll be fixing today, Mr. Potter." He looked at his reattached arm and smiled.

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey, your marvelous talents are much appreciated. OW!" He groaned in a yell as she moved him.

"Potter, why didn't you tell me the pain potions wore off! Wait just a moment!" She rushed off and came back with a foul smelling potion – a sure tell that it was potent – which Harry quaffed with a shudder as it slowly slid down his throat. Vile.

"Get used to it, you'll be taking that one for some time, I expect, with that arm of yours. Regrowing nerves is slow – slower than bones, even – and quite painful." _Pain? What's pain? Heck, shoot me through a window right now, I'll be fine!_ Harry said with a bit of a goofy smile.

"Ah, that's the potion setting in, then," she said with a look at Harry's glazed eyes. He tried to fight the lightheaded stupor and succeeded marginally.

"How long before I can be set free with a cane, Madam? And what day is it, anyway?" He pushed out – that potion really _was_ potent!

"At least two days, I'll expect, Potter. It is Tuesday morning, by the way, you were only unconscious here about thirty hours or so. Now lie back while I fetch that Nerve Growth Stimulator, it's somewhere in the back." She left Harry alone with Tom.

_Don't lecture me, Tom, I know it was stupid._ Harry said defeated. Tom merely smirked.

_I know it was, Harry. But your intentions were certainly good. And I admit that with all we know about Voldemort and the memories we've seen, along with the fact that you had to strip his followers' fortunes to get at the Horcrux, we can't help but feel responsible for his actions. But we are NOT responsible, Harry. You know that._ Harry, deep down, did, but still felt terrible.

_I know, but so many deaths…they could have been avoided if only I hadn't gone after the Horcrux…_

_We had to get it eventually, Harry. Deaths would have resulted in any case – you know Voldemort well enough to know that he couldn't forgive that without a massive killing spree. And you did save several families from certain death when you went out. You tried, and succeeded, to an extent, where even Dumbledore was not capable of doing a thing. That was a great achievement, Harry. It also shows you that you need to continue your training, and step it up a notch._ Harry knew this to be true. He swallowed the potion from Madam Pomfrey when she returned, and then saw Professor Dumbledore, looking grim, walk in the Hospital Wing.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" He began softly.

"Terrible, sir. But I'd have gladly suffered a lot more." Harry firmly replied.

"I know, Harry. One of your great strengths is your amazing empathy and ability to care beyond almost anyone I've ever met. I am sorry, Harry, that I could not do more to help you." Harry felt tears in his eyes and blinked them away as he thought of all the victims.

"How many deaths?" Was all he managed to choke out.

"Thirty-four, now. Several more are still in St. Mungo's, including three of which who owe their survival to you." Harry looked away, shamefully. Three survivors thanks to him. Seemed pretty insignificant next to the thirty-four deaths.

"It was stupid. It was rash, and I…I just couldn't stand the thought of sitting around, even though I knew I couldn't really make a difference." Dumbledore nodded seriously.

"You'll find that patience and the acceptance of one's own lack of power is a most difficult lesson to learn. Heading out wands blazing is an appealing option, but one that generally ends with a trip to either a hospital or a morgue. Watching a student that one is very fond of laying near death in a Hospital Wing is the only thing I've found more difficult." Tears threatened Harry's eyes once again at the bitter sting of disappointment in Dumbledore's voice.

"However, Harry, it is a mistake that I completely understand and can sympathize with. Rest assured, you did quite well – better than I could have hoped. Even Mad-Eye was impressed with some of your actions – a few Death Eaters have yet to wake up, much to his delight," Harry fought a grin at this, "and you only fell once previously injured to one of Voldemort's own Inner Circle Death Eaters, Amycus Carrow." Harry nodded as though this were new information; the Carrows had kept out of Azkaban, Harry remembered from the night of Voldemort's return, and must not have been idle in that time, if Amycus' skill was indicative.

"He was quite good, Professor…very accurate when he threw curses, and he knew more than a few. I probably could have beaten him if it weren't for the hip injury, but it would've been close. I was lucky he was toying with me and wasn't throwing around Unforgivables at every turn, or I wouldn't be here." Dumbledore nodded seriously.

"Indeed, as it is, your severed left arm was used as a portkey to help us arrive here, and you were quite incoherent." Harry laughed aloud –_Only Dumbledore would use my severed arm as an illegal portkey!_ – before realizing that it hurt his head.

"I'm sorry, Professor, but my arm? A portkey? Really? What a night! I distinctly remember four of you picking me off the grounds – somehow there were two grounds that moved awfully – but I must have blacked out before the portkey." Harry fought to keep from chuckling.

"I believe you had, Harry. Now, your good friends have delayed their breakfast long enough and Ms. Granger will miss her first class of the day if I do not leave you to them, so I shall do just that. We will talk later, Harry, rest assured, about your punishment for leaving school grounds. As well as your ability to Apparate without having had any instruction." Harry merely agreed without moving his head, not quite sure how he was going to explain that away. He was anxious to see his friends, anyway. Ron, Hermione, and – to his great pleasure – Katie all walked in after Dumbledore left and told them it was alright.

"Harry!" Hermione clung gently to his right side, while Katie took his left and burrowed wonderfully into his chest. Ron looked bemused at this.

"Geez…I'll get injured too if I can get two girls to be all over me!" Ron joked, causing Harry to smile but try not to laugh, which hurt.

"Sorry, mate, but I guess I get all the luck." Hermione rolled her eyes at this.

"Oh, Harry, I was so worried – and I'd been so mean to you all week and we'd just made up!" Harry rubbed her back comfortingly.

"Should I get used to seeing you like this if I'm to be your friend like these two?" Katie indicated Ron and Hermione as Harry grinned.

"I'm afraid so…Madam Pomfrey was just telling Dumbledore that she was going to need a special Harry Potter ward for extreme trauma cases – I suggested taking over Snape's office, but she said it was too moldy…" All three of his guests burst into laughter as he smiled.

"So what happened, Harry? No one told us anything! You just disappeared at night! We thought for sure Death Eaters tried to get even by getting you…but…the news…" Ron trailed off awkwardly; unsure of whether Harry had heard the horrific news. Harry swallowed and replied.

"I know. I had a vision, despite my work with Occlumency. Voldemort was…understandably upset at my actions. Angrier than I've ever seen him, in fact. He was planning an attack on the families of virtually every Muggle-born and Half-blood. Though looking back on it, he doesn't really have the manpower for that – but he was going to attack a lot of them. Anyway, I went to Dumbledore immediately when I woke up to let him know. I told him, but he said that if Voldemort was going after so many, he really had little power to stop him, since I only knew a few of the victims. Anyway, I got really angry and frustrated and became…very stupid. I forced my way into his office to find out where the students I'd heard he was going to attack lived. Then, I kinda…left his office –"

"He just let you leave, if you were so upset?" Hermione inquired. _Too damn clever for her own good_, Tom said with a smile.

"Er…not exactly. I…dove out the window, sorta." Her eyes narrowed sinisterly with Katie's while Ron burst out in laughter. "Go on," Hermione managed to say through her glare.

"Well, then I ran to the edge of the wards…and Apparated to the first house. I caught those Death Eaters by surprise and stunned both of them and left for the next house. The Death Eaters were already inside and had knocked one person unconscious – I think he was a muggle – while the witch was just starting to fend them off. I knocked one out, but took a nasty hit from the other before I threw him through a wall. I left for the third house – that's where it really hit the fan. There were two Death Eaters there fighting a witch and wizard. There must have been wards that the Death Eaters had just stripped down, as they began blasting the house right when I arrived. These guys were more powerful, I think one of them might have been Inner Circle or close to it. Anyway, after a fight where I aggravated my hurt hip, I knocked one out. The other got me good, though – he was pretty quick with flinging Dark curses. Dumbledore said he was Amycus Carrow. Anyway, he hit me in the head, gave me a concussion so my memory after that's not so great. He ended up cutting my arm off with a Dark curse that I guess made it pretty hard to get back on." Harry finished his tale for his stunned friends.

"He cut off your arm? Wicked! Do you still have the scar?" Harry grinned and made to show him, but Katie had clung ever tighter to that side and didn't seem any keener on letting him go than Hermione, who thought he might just dive out the window if she did.

"Harry Potter, are you suicidal? No, seriously, answer me right now, are you bloody crazy?" He meekly responded, "No", afterwards she slapped him hard across the face.

"Then if you ever, EVER, pull a crazy stunt like that again and survive, I'll kill you. I'm not joking, Harry. Dead. I'll make the Death Eaters look tame. And I'll use the Black Library to do it." She looked deadly serious, so Harry wrapped his arm around her and whispered, "Okay, I promise to be slightly less stupid in the future." She smiled weakly at him.

"Alright, then, good. In that case, I took the liberty of collecting the assignments you missed yesterday, and I can deliver today's after classes, so expect me – don't be indecent or something. I'm sure Ron can help you if you have trouble. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have class." She marched off, weighted down by her usual load of books and parchment.

"Mental, that one, as always. Listen, mate," Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder in a display of manly affection, "If you keep going out on crazy adventures without me, my life's going to be pretty boring. So let me know next time, and we can nearly get killed together like old times. Anyway, while you're in here think about Quidditch tryouts – the whole house is talking about it constantly! Er…I'll leave you two alone, I've got to do some Transfiguration essay anyway." Ron gave his friend one last smirk as he glanced at Harry and Katie, then quickly retreated.

"I'm glad you're alright, Harry." She moved up and kissed him tenderly for a moment. "Because if you'd died before our Hogsmeade date, I'd have brought you back so I could kill you. I need to get to class, I'm going to be late already, but I'll visit you later, okay?"

"Okay…I could really use someone like you to nurse me back to health, I think." He said flirtatiously with a grin.

"Don't you have Madam Pomfrey for that?" She said in retaliation. In response, he grabbed the front of her blouse and gently pulled her in for another, longer and more passion-filled kiss.

"You'd better hope not." He said when finished. She rolled her eyes and waved to him on her way out, leaving him alone with a pile of homework and "suggested reading" from Hermione.

The next week of school was indicative of the general pace of the sixth year, though Harry had to learn the material in the Hospital Wing until he was released before dinner on Wednesday. Nonverbal spells became the standard and were expected in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Professor McGonagall was expanding into advanced theory on large-scale Transfiguration; she had conjured several large chunks of marble that groups of students were expected to transfigure into various objects and later animals, with which little success was had. Harry worked hard with all the members of his group, including Ron but not Hermione, so that by the end of the class they had all succeeded at changing the block somehow, which was better than any other group. Ron, in fact, was doing best of all except Harry, and by the end of the class was almost on par with Hermione – at her complement of his skills, he reddened considerably as Harry grinned sadistically at his embarrassment.

Professor Flitwick had moved beyond review material – all of which was now supposed to be done nonverbally, of course – and had moved on to more advanced Charms. They had first worked on the Bubble-Head Charm whose effects Harry knew so well from the Second Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and on Friday had just begun the _Aguamenti_ charm and were promised a quiz on Monday – five gallons of water had to be quickly created nonverbally, and it was taxing to many of the students, some of whom were even taxed by nonverbal spells to begin with. In fact, the only relief for these students was Herbology, where everyone swore loudly as they were seized by a Venomous Tentacula or other deadly flora.

Professor Snape gave them no relief, either; not that such was expected. He was a very decent teacher, and quite obviously more knowledgeable than even Remus when it came to the Dark Arts, but was always foul. He took particular delight in his lessons about defending from nonverbal spells, and ridiculed Harry for no reason.

"Potter, a spell with red light is shot at you, what is the best course of action?" Snape barked at him.

"Is the curse blood red or lighter red?" Harry asked to clarify.

"It doesn't matter, your prevarication cost you precious moments and you are now writhing in agony under the Cruciatus Curse." He snapped as he continued on. _Excuse me, I've _been_ shot at by the _Cruciatus_ enough to recognize it from a _Stupefy_, you git._ Harry was always certain to keep his face blank – he knew that even a slight roll of his eyes would earn him a detention from a Snape-on-the-prowl.

Harry had waited all week for the man to be in a less foul mood – he was constantly correcting poor Neville, who was just now beginning to get a basic grasp on nonverbal _Lumos_ spells – but eventually just confronted the man on Friday.

"Professor Snape, sir?"

"I believe class is over, Potter. Leave." Snape said without looking up from a paper on his desk.

"Excuse me, Professor, but Professor Dumbledore said I might talk to you for a moment." Snape rolled his eyes and finally looked up.

"Talk. You are officially wasting my time," he waited until Harry began speaking to say, "Now."

"Thank you, sir. Professor Dumbledore recommended, when I said that I'd like to get to know a bit more about my parents, that you might share some memories of them with me." Harry didn't even know why he was bothering, but Tom liked a challenge, and charming Severus Snape would certainly be that.

"No. Leave." Snape looked back down at his paper and Harry had to hide back a grin.

"Well, Professor, it's just that the other teachers he recommended all taught them as students, whereas you knew them as peers, and I thought that I might get a more complete picture of them as people if I saw them without teachers around." At this, Snape actually stopped writing and actually looked at Harry, peering into his eyes in a way that made him unconsciously lock down with his Occlumency, forcing thoughts from his mind.

"I highly doubt you want to know what an arrogant fool your father was, Potter."

"Actually, I do. I realize he wasn't perfect, Professor, and I could never expect him to be. But all I get from the other Professors is that James Potter was a phenomenal Quidditch player and Transfiguration student, and Lily Evans was a Potions Mistress in the making and a brilliant Charms student. But they didn't really interact with them between classes, when James was acting like an idiot like you say. I want to know them, flaws and all. And I'm sorry that they were mean and cruel to you, Professor, I know how hard it is to be bullied, but I'd rather know James as a bully than think him a great person. If that makes sense." Harry saw that Snape had entirely stopped what he was doing and had given Harry his complete attention. _Now we're cooking, Sevvie!_ Tom cackled with success.

"I never said that your mother was mean or cruel, Potter. Quite the opposite, in fact." Severus finally said softly after a long moment.

"It sounds like you knew her well – how did that happen, if you were in Slytherin and she was in Gryffindor?" Snape looked into Harry's eyes with an odd expression on his face – _Lily's eyes!_ _Not my eyes, but my mothers! – _Harry finally realized why Snape so disliked looking him in the eyes.

"I knew her before we came to Hogwarts. She lived near me, and I witnessed her first display of accidental magic when she was young. I told her what she was, and began to teach her what little of magic I knew. Now get out, Potter." Snape finished in an even quieter voice. Harry was quite certain that he'd never told this to anyone, and while his reaction wasn't as emotional as Slughorn's the previous evening when he asked about Lily – Slughorn had tearfully pulled up a chair and regaled Harry with hours of tales that Harry finally had to end at curfew – it was even more satisfying. Harry made to leave the classroom as Snape had a few last words.

"And your father was always an idiot. And this doesn't mean I despise you any less. You're as arrogant and stupid as your father." Harry smirked as he walked away back up to the Gryffindor common room. It wasn't until he saw Katie's smile at him and gave her an easy smile back that he realized what the odd emotion in Snape's eyes was. Did Snape _like_ Lily Evans?


	8. Quidditch, Slug Club, and Punishment

Hello and welcome, my wonderful readers! I hope you enjoy this latest chapter of my work, which is back above the 10k I've been slipping under with the past two chapters.

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Eight: Quidditch, Slug Club, and Punishment

By the Friday after Harry woke up, the same day he confronted Snape and learned just a bit more about his mother, Harry's injuries were almost healed. He reflected back on how lucky he was to have survived the encounters with the Death Eaters. Without his protective cloak, he'd likely have been totally incapacitated by the one spare Bludgeoning Hex the Death Eater had thrown at him at the second house he'd visited; he'd also likely have had his chest blown apart by the Reductor curse that only broke five ribs. As it was, that Dark curse was too much for even the formidable cloak, Harry reflected as he stretched his left side a bit – it was still tender where it his been sliced by the edge of the curse that removed his arm. Both his arm and side did have fairly hideous scars that Harry kept dousing in dittany to some marginal effect. Thankfully he might be finished with the cane by tomorrow – Harry bore the teasing from Malfoy with a repressed grin at the childish taunts, but the looks of pity were quite annoying.

_It's just a bloody cane! You'd think I had some awful disfiguration with the way everyone looks at me!_ Only a few of the teachers treated him the same – Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape. Professor Slughorn immediately rose from his seat when Harry entered on Thursday and made to help the poor crippled child to his seat.

"Are you feeling alright, Harry? Ron, why don't you fetch the Ashwinder scales for Harry, he's in no shape to move around, that's a good lad." Harry rolled his eyes at this treatment. Damn Pomfrey – he didn't even need the blasted cane! Much. True, he'd set off without it once in the common room and fell…but Katie'd been there and it had been wonderful to wrap his arms around her as she helped him up with a worried look. Then when he'd cuddled with her on the couch, the worried look had quickly turned to an amused one. She was quite a wonderful nurse, much better than Pomfrey. Hermione was wonderful too, but her nursing just didn't have quite the same effect on Harry. He supposed that was a good thing for Ron's sake. Ron's voice drew him from the thoughts of yesterday back to the present, however.

"Harry, why don't you check the Prince's book for any modifications to these instructions for Monday. Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow, so we've got to get this done." Ron said as he crashed down next to Harry in the common room. He'd been excited about Quidditch all week, and when Harry was in the Hospital Wing, Ron had finally managed to bother him enough to finally schedule tryouts for Saturday morning. Harry cracked open the copy of the Prince's Potions book to the proper page. Sure enough, there were several corrections to the listed potion; oddly enough, there was also something else in the margin.

_Sectumsempra_

_- For Enemies._

Tom knew this spell, it was quite popular with the batch of Death Eaters fresh from Hogwarts in 1978, only a few years ago by Tom's reckoning. It was a cutting curse. The same cutting curse, Harry was almost positive, that took his arm off.

Ron must have noticed Harry's pause and slightly whitened expression. "What's wrong, Harry, what's in there?"

"A spell, Ron. One I'm almost sure I recognize from my fight with the Death Eaters." Harry didn't quite remember that part of the fight - he was fighting consciousness from his concussion after all, and the world had made very little sense at that point - but Tom recognized it enough for that not to be a total lie.

"Really? What's it do? _Sectumsempra_, huh? We should try it out..." Ron seemed interested.

"I'd recommend against it, Ron. It's the spell that took my arm. And I have no idea how to reverse it, it's a pretty Dark spell." Ron paled slightly and revoked his suggestion.

_But I'd like to know how Snape knows how to reverse it if Voldemort doesn't. Of course, if the Half-Blood Prince created the spell, he might very well know how to reverse it..._It all made sense, really. Harry knew that Snape was a Potions Master, after all, despite him being terrible at teaching the subject. Also, Snape was always said to know an inordinate amount concerning the Dark Arts.

"I think I know who the Half-Blood Prince is...was...whatever. It's Snape." Harry said to his friend.

"No way! You think? Snape invented that curse that the Death Eater hit you with? Do you think it was really Snape, and Dumbledore just made a mistake about who it was?" Harry almost smirked - of course Ron would be instantly suspicious of his most hated teacher.

"No, it was Amycus...I would have recognized Snape's voice, I think. Anyway, these modifications all look good, I need to take a break a minute, alright?" Harry retreated to his room at Ron's nod and quickly put his memory of the battle in Dumbledore's loaned Pensieve, jumping in to review it.

_"Everbero!" Amycus yelled as Harry knocked Gibbon to the ground with his wonderfully modified little stunner. Harry watched as the spell hit him right on the side of the head and knocked him flat. "Crucio!" Carrow immediately said. Harry watched as he writhed in pain for agonizing seconds. _

_Now was the part where his own memory failed him. The concussion and the pain of the Cruciatus overloaded his senses and he was totally incoherent. He watched himself struggle to get up and stagger._

_"Avada Kedavra!" Amycus said viciously. Harry's eyes widened as he saw just how close to death he came - missed it thanks to a particularly uncoordinated stagger to the left. He staggered again as Amycus said, "Stop moving to foolish twit! Sectumsempra!" The white sword-edge sliced Harry's arm and side like a hot knife through butter, and he saw himself ignore the pain, oblivious to it._

_"Everbero!" The Bludgeoning Hex hit him right in his already wounded chest and Harry winced unconsciously as he watched. He was now staring at his own severed arm and attempting futilely to arise once more. Harry had to hand it to himself - he was a perseverant bastard, if nothing else._

Harry exited the Pensieve. Just as he'd thought, Amycus used the Prince's Dark spell to curse Harry's arm off. Of course, entering the Pensieve evoked a totally different set of thoughts, too.

_What the hell was I thinking? Moody would kill me if he saw that, it was pathetic! All of his training flew out of my mind in the face of real danger. I didn't conjure up anything, much less marble balls to protect me; I never would have taken that _Reducto_ that incapacitated me so much, and probably not the Bludgeoning Hex in the second battle either. God, what was I thinking?_

_Well, Harry, it's perfectly understandable that your first battle doesn't go as well as it could - look at Voldemort's first battle, after all. The most important thing is to learn from it, don't make the same mistakes again - for I'm sure that won't be your last battle with the Death Eaters._ Tom comforted Harry.

"Harry?" Denis Creevey said excitedly as he burst into Harry's dorm.

"Yes, Denis?" The excitable little boy annoyed Harry just as much as his brother, but he didn't allow it to show.

"I have a note for you." He handed Harry a note with Dumbledore's familiar handwriting on it - were they to have another lesson? What would Dumbledore think about Harry's escape from the castle - that it was crazy? Probably.

_Harry,_

_You may meet me in my office after dinner this Saturday concerning your punishment for leaving castle grounds. The password remains the same._

_Albus Dumbledore_

_Headmaster, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Ah, his punishment. Breaking the Headmaster's window - he still winced as he couldn't believe he did that - leaving the castle grounds resulting in grievous personal injury..._Yes, I suppose some punishment is warranted. Other than having my arm cursed off..._

When Harry made his way back to the common room, he found himself in the middle of an argument between Ron and Hermione – a steady declining occurrence, but one that he doubted would ever be eliminated.

"But we have Quidditch tryouts tomorrow morning, Hermione! Not to mention the quiz on the _Aguamenti_ that Flitwick promised us on Monday that I have to work on. Honestly, what are we supposed to tell him, anyway? He was a bloody awful teacher and his subject was worthless? I'm sure not joining Charlie on a Dragon Reserve – what the heck do I need it for?" Harry smirked and walked up to his friends.

"Hey guys – arguing about apologizing to Professor Trelwaney for dropping Divination?" Harry said, which bewildered both friends enough to get them to shut up.

"Huh? Why would you think that, Harry? Honestly, this is about Hagrid! He's our friend, and we haven't talked to him since school began; it's obvious that he's angry at us." Hermione said matter-of-factly.

"I've no doubt he was mad at you, he told me so at tea last Saturday. However, he understands now." Hermione gaped like a fish.

"You…last Saturday?"

"That's right, I had tea with him and explained it all. I told him that I thought that I learned enough between his three years of instruction along with my personal experiences with life-threatening creatures to take the N.E.W.T. in Creatures, so he was really excited about that; Dragons are a big part of it, of course, so he wasn't really looking forward to teaching about that without examples anyway. I told him that Hermione tried to fit it in and her request for a time-turner was turned down because I broke them all in the Ministry. And Ron, you are trying hard to focus on the classes required to become an Auror, your life's ambition, and since you only just made it into several of them, you're getting study help in your classes from me that would conflict with the time his class is taught. He was very sympathetic. However, he did invite you both, along with me, to feel free to ask him if you guys wind up wanting to take the N.E.W.T. with me." Hermione and Ron were both gaping.

"You lied to him, Harry? How could you! He deserves the truth!" Hermione was the first to recover and respond.

"I did not technically lie. I do intend to take the Creatures N.E.W.T., as I wasn't kidding and I think I'll do fairly well – I did learn a lot with Hagrid about advanced Creatures…not as much as I may have implied, but whatever. Hermione, I'm sure that if you could have, you'd have taken every subject at N.E.W.T. level, so that was merely an extrapolation. Ron, you are busy with classes, and you did get the required mark to get into most of them. Also, you are participating in training with me, which I consider Defense help. So there you are – all truths that were exaggerated slightly to make him feel better. Not, I think, a terrible thing to do." Harry looked quite smug. Tom had been glad to use his manipulative abilities to benefit the kind-hearted half-giant instead of getting him expelled.

"Wow, Harry…that was masterful. You must have spent a long time cooking that up…" Hermione finally said.

"Yeah, brilliant, mate…can't believe you came up with all that, but brilliant!" Ron said with a slap to Harry's back. With a smile, he joined his friends in completing some homework so that tomorrow could be devoted to Quidditch and reviewing some of Tom Riddle's memories with his friends before meeting with Dumbledore for his punishment.

"Blimey, Harry, I think tryouts are going to take all morning, with the number of people signed up!" Ron said excitedly as Harry, Katie, and Ron made their way from breakfast to the pitch; Hermione was coming too, but carrying a massive load of books. Harry was slightly nervous at this first test of his Captaincy, but was reassured by the confident presence of Tom, who had decades of publicly speaking to back him up.

"I don't know why the team is so popular this year, we've never had more than a dozen or so any other year…though there are a lot more spaces this year." He said. Hermione smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

"Honestly, Harry! It's you that's so popular, not the team! I'm sure every girl in Gryffindor will show up just to watch." Harry smirked.

"Our resident bookworm included…" Ron jerked his head quickly at Hermione, who merely laughed.

"Right, Harry, I'll just be staring at you the whole time – all these books are props…" Harry's smirk, however, grew as he whispered in her ear.

"Ah, but I never said it was me you'd be staring at…" He said with a surreptitious glance and wink at Ron, causing Hermione to blush. Ron's face lit up when he comprehended what Harry must have said before looking at him and winking, and got so distracted that he walked into a suit of armor.

Harry got his friend up with a laugh while Katie whispered suggestively in his ear, "And just who are you going to be watching, Mr. Potter?"

"Me? I expect I'll be looking out for the best Chasers, primarily." He announced, then lowered his voice, "Really, though, I think only the best Chaser will really captivate me…" Katie smiled triumphantly as Ron and Hermione passed a knowing look.

"Seriously, though, Harry, I'd expect more than a few people to show up because of you. I mean, you have grown about a foot this past year…not to mention the lean muscle you've put on with your training with Moody. Plus, you're a Tri-Wizard Champion, not to mention that everyone knows the truth about what happened at the end of it. Plus, all that publicity from the Ministry and everything. I heard rumors that Witch Weekly has a countdown until you become of age, even." Hermione put in.

"Really?" Harry questioned this last bit.

"Oh, they do," Katie assured him, then her eyes widened and she blushed, "Not that I read that trashy magazine or anything…" Harry laughed and put a hand on her back, which seemed to help her over her embarrassment.

"Hey Ron! Are you heading down to the pitch for tryouts?" Lavender Brown appeared out of nowhere and asked. _Excellent, let Operation: Jealous Hermione begin!_

"Uh…yeah, I'm going out for Keeper – been practicing all summer with Ginny and Harry, so I think I'll do alright. Er…are you?" Indeed, Lavender looked to be joining their departure from the castle.

"Yeah! I figure I'd like to watch tryouts this time. I'll be sure to cheer for you!" Harry noticed that Hermione's expression had cooled off noticeably since the addition of the pretty blonde Gryffindor to the group, and he nudged her un-subtly. Hermione glared at him to stop, but he just shot her one of his new award-winning smiles. For a moment, Harry wondered if he was in the running for one of Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Awards like Lockhart. At least he did things by himself and didn't take credit for others' deeds.

_But I'd kinda be taking credit for Voldemort's knowledge, wouldn't I? Am I no better than Lockhart if I don't tell people?_ Harry wondered for the first time. This was a frightening thought for him.

_I think not, Harry. Lockhart interviewed others and then _Obliviate_d them; you're just using a gift to help you fight against an evil Dark Lord. You still have to fight him, after all._ _And very possibly die. _Tom said reassuringly.

_Thanks Tom, you always know how to make a bloke feel better._ Harry said wryly.

_It's what I'm here for, Harry. That and to make sure you don't go all angsty teenager on your friends again._ Harry ignored the sarcastic Horcrux. As they approached the pitch in the drizzling weather. Hermione and Lavender took seats next to each other in the stands – that ought to make Hermione's day brighter – along with what must have been half the house flocking to the stands. Another hefty fraction was standing on the pitch waiting for Harry. Before he could address them, a large – likely seventh year, wiry-haired boy Harry recognized from the Slug Club came forward.

"Harry," he said, stepping forward to vigorously shake Harry's hand, "we met on the train, in old Sluggy's compartment. Cormac McLaggen." Tom knew that people like this need to be shown their place immediately.

"Excellent, but I'm afraid fans are going to have to stay in the stands, Cormad." Harry began to walk away as the boy's face fell slightly. _Merlin, I'm good_, thought Tom.

"No, I'm trying out – Keeper." Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't try out last year, did you?" Harry knew he hadn't, but someone as pompous as this made him wonder why. Plus, the boy was so broad he could block all of the hoops simultaneously – definitely built more like Oliver Wood.

"I was in the hospital wing when they held trials," McLaggen stated with a bit of a swagger, "Ate a pound of doxy eggs for a bet." Harry looked unimpressed and mildly disgusted.

"I'm sure. Keepers are over there." He pointed to where Ron was standing, ignoring the flicker of annoyance that crossed Cormac's face, along with several other beefy gentlemen he didn't really know, but vaguely recognized as belonging to his own house. Far too many in the gaggle of Chasers, however, he did not even vaguely recognize, and upon closer investigation, many were wearing either Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff scarves.

"Anyone not in Gryffindor house, leave now!" He said, pointing a finger to the pitch entrance. Several giggling Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw girls sprinted away; Harry had to fight to keep from rolling his eyes.

"Alright, the rest of you lot split into three teams, we're going to do some basic skills testing by flying around the pitch." The first group was quite young looking. Only one girl managed to actually circle around the pitch adequately, so Harry set her off the side.

"Alright, thank you, the rest of your team can go join the stands." Several groans were heard, but Harry stayed firm with his hand outstretched and eyes narrowed, daring the first and second years – what were first years doing here anyway? – to disobey him, which none dared.

"Next group, same task!" He blew his whistle for them to start, and the entire group – all of them girls about third or fourth year – fell to the ground giggling and clutching each other whilst talking excitedly.

"Alright, get off my field! Third group!" This group crashed into each other midfield, and Harry dismissed them all rather angrily. The next few groups were much the same, and Harry rather easily narrowed the Chaser candidates down to Katie Bell, who he had to watch fly several times; this had nothing to do with the way she looked as the robes clung to her figure with the fast speed, Harry assured himself, along with Ginny Weasley and the young girl from the first group – Demelza Robins. Dean Thomas was announced a reserve player, and Harry congratulated his roommate with a smile.

The Beater tryouts too were a nightmare for Harry. Anyone who could fly couldn't hit, and anyone who could hit fell off the broom; Harry had to rub his temples to stave off a headache – how did Wood stay sane? Well, relatively, anyway – before finally announcing a barrel chested third year, Jimmy Peakes, along with a weedy young boy Ritchie Coote. Peakes was a ferocious hitter, but Coote more accurate. Well, Harry would have them both training, so it was no matter.

Finally, Harry got to the Keeper tryouts. He sent a quick smile to Ron as he made his way over. The stands had, as the weather cleared and students finished a late breakfast, filled considerably, and there were many more than just Gryffindors cheering the end of the Beater trials. Harry hoped the stands would clear soon as lunch arrived – he knew Ron still had problems with nerves, and wanted his friend to perform well – but doubted it. As each hopeful, most more abysmal than the last, tried to block the Quaffle that the four new Chasers and Harry tried to get by them, Harry's hopes for Ron grew better; none of the first five applicants saved more than two out of the five. Cormac McLaggen was the sixth player, however, and saved the first four rather handily; Harry swore that saw a brief flash of light come from the stands behind Cormac as he made to take a shot, and Cormac shot in the exact opposite direction from the Quaffle and it sailed through a hoop. Harry had a sneaking suspicion, and flew over Hermione – Lavender had left some time ago and come back with Parvati in a different seat – as he called for the next Keeper.

"You know, you're supposed to hex the other team, Hermione." Hermione reddened.

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Really? Then I wonder why Cormac looked Confunded before flying away from the Quaffle that last time around…quite curious…good for Ron, though." Harry smirked at her continuing blush and flew back to score on the next Keeper, who hadn't blocked a single throw. Ron was up next.

"Good Luck!" Two voices called out; Harry noticed Hermione and Lavender waving from different sections of the stands, and Ron just smiled nervously without looking at either. Ron didn't seem to need it, however, as he handily saved all five – even Ginny's, who released only at the last second and Ron nearly needed to hang off his broom to block it.

"Well, I think we have our new Keeper!" The stands erupted in cheers and Ron grinned like a fool. McLaggen, however, was red-faced and approached Harry. Apparently it was time to teach this dog some new tricks.

"You didn't even try on that last throw, Potter!" He said menacingly, looking down at Harry. He looked remarkably like Uncle Vernon with a vein pulsing in his forehead. "It was an easy save!"

"Oh, I admit that I'm the worst Chaser of any who threw, today, McLaggen. Which made me surprised that you missed mine – however, I think that the problem was that you expected it to be too complicated. I'm sorry, but Ron quite clearly out-performed you and is therefore the team Keeper. Thanks for trying." Harry managed to keep a smile and pleasant tone with judicious use of Occlumency.

"Give me another go." Cormac said, stepping even closer to Harry. Harry looked bored, ignoring the attempted intimidation.

"No, because then I would be forced to repeat the entire Keeper tryout, which I assure you, I don't have the time nor the energy for. Now, Cormac, I'm tired and my arm's a bit sore from all that Chasing, so unless you're carrying me to the Great Hall for lunch, I'm going to have to ask you to move." Cormac's red face didn't abate at all as Harry walked around him to congratulate Ron as they made their way out of the stadium.

"Great flying, mate! I knew you'd do it –"

"You were brilliant, Ron!" Harry heard Hermione's voice as she ran forward to Ron and gave him a tight hug. This caused Ron's grin to, if possible, grow even larger.

"Thanks, Hermione! I wasn't sure if I was going to get that shot from Ginny – and Demelza's no slouch, either, that fourth shot –"

"Yes, it was amazing." Hermione said with a sweet smile.

"Yeah, better than McLaggen, at least! Did you see him lumbering off in the totally wrong direction when Harry approached? Looked like he'd been Confunded, the git…" Harry noticed Hermione grow pink again as he himself bit back laughter.

"Hey there, Captain!" Katie said cutely as she approached the group.

"How's my star Chaser feeling? Really great tryout, by the way, Katie. It was really great to watch you out there…Flying, I mean – I wasn't watching anything else, of course!" Harry said, trying and failing to fix his flub.

"Really, Harry? Just watching my flying, then? I rather thought –" She was interrupted as a flash of red light hit her, causing Harry to leap over her body protectively as he wandlessly drew his wand from its holster as a reaction and carelessly threw up a wandless _Absolvo_ shield that, if he'd analyzed, was the strongest he'd ever managed. He conjured up a half-cylinder of marble to protect Katie when he turned to identify his attacker: Across the clearing, near the Forest, in a dark cloak. His eyes flashed dangerously as he silently lightened his weight and leaped tremendously, fractioning the distance between himself and his attacker. He flung curse after curse at the one who'd hit Katie, his mind cleared in case the attacker was a Legilimens. Unfortunately, his enemy was _good_. Harry was quickly forced to conjure up with marble balls, which whirled excitedly as they sought to protect him from the bombardment of magic.

"_Confringo!_" Harry yelled as he channeled everything he could through his wand; there was a bit of a kickback as the curse tore through him and out his wand, weakening him noticeably. The ground itself exploded as the curse connected with some kind of shield that had been erected. Harry wasted no time in saying, "_Soporo!_" as the smoke cleared, and noticed that he nailed his attacker's body with his blue spell. After this, he collapsed slightly, landing on his butt from exhaustion.

"Harry! Are you alright? Who was that?" Hermione hurried over to him, her and Ron's wands both at the ready.

"Whew, I don't know. But he's lucky to have survived that Blasting Curse, I put everything I had in that thing and it still only collapsed his shield!" Hermione made to awaken the attacker after traversing the crater Harry'd made, but Harry remembered Moody's training and yelled at her to stop. He got up and started banishing the duelist's potential weapons after casting revealing spells. When he noticed the various Weasley Defense line products and the multitude of Sneakoscopes of various origins, Harry began to become suspicious. Tearing the cloak off, he rolled his eyes – damn that Mad-Eye! Harry lazily awoke Katie before deciding to awaken Moody too. Only Moody was tied up with an overzealous _Incarcerous_ spell. And naked except for his shorts – Harry had even checked his more unpleasant orifices for weaponry and removed that.

"Potter! Get me down from here this instant, boy! Can't believe you…attack a teacher…Albus'll hear about it…" He said, muttering after his first indignant cry.

"Me? You're the crazy one, dressed up like a Death Eater and attacking my…Katie." Katie smiled slightly as Harry almost said 'girlfriend'. Moody, too, caught the slip.

"Your Katie, Harry? Why, I didn't know Hogwarts allowed students to keep such pretty servants!" Harry reddened in embarrassment – the old Auror was one of the few who could get the better of him, but then he'd been doing it since before Tom, even.

"Now by Merlin get me down and give me my things back or I'll show you the meaning of Dark Curses!" Moody finally barked harshly. Harry smiled and released his teacher. When the old man leapt on him to attempt to wrestle his wand away – so predictable, really – Harry rolled on top of him and pinned him, much to the shock of Katie and amusement of the other two.

"Good work, Harry! I see you haven't been totally negligent of your training! Though when I heard about your little excursion, I wasn't sure. Honestly, only six Death Eaters? I thought I taught you better than that, boy!" Moody said, retrieving his belongings and storing them as he talked.

"I know, I'm sorry. But…fighting Death Eaters instead of you is…different, and a lot more terrifying. I've learned from it, though, gone over it in a Pensieve so that I don't make the same mistakes again." Moody smiled at this – it always looked so sinister on him.

"I noticed back there when you thought I was a Death Eater. Nearly had me well done! That's a mighty powerful Blasting Curse, there, boy! When'd you learn to do that?"

"Truthfully, I haven't…it was just a reaction. Took a lot out of me, though, I actually fell over, I don't know if you saw. Had enough left in me to continue, though." Moody nodded seriously.

"Well try to replicate the effects next time you practice – though do try not to kill anyone, too much paperwork – and build up so you can consistently channel that much power. Felt like I was fighting the Dark Lord for a moment!" Harry smiled uncomfortably. It was always his fear that he was becoming too much like Voldemort in an attempt to overcome him, and any comparison like that left a bad taste in his mouth.

"Anyway, why are you here, Alastor?" Moody grinned sinisterly again.

"Old friend invited me. Said he's having a few people over, some wanted to meet an Auror like me. We'll see how it goes." Harry wondered at this, but Moody left the group before Harry could question him further. He and his friends were heading to the end of lunch – the smell of roast beef was quite tantalizing – when Professor Slughorn appeared to block their way.

"Harry, Harry, just the man I was looking for!" Slughorn said jovially. _Why am I not surprised – just when I only want to eat some lunch!_ "I'm hosting a spot of after-supper fun tonight in my rooms; just a few friends, you know. We've got McLaggen – I know he was just on the Quidditch Pitch – along with Zabini, the charming Melinda Bobbin. Have you met her? Charming witch whose family owns a large chain of apothecaries…and of course, I was hoping to have the lovely Miss Granger and dapper Mr. Weasley join in the festivities! Along with your date, I expect, Harry." He said with a knowing wink at Harry after a glance at Katie.

"Gosh, you know, I have detention with Dumbledore tonight, but I'm sure the others would really love to go!" All three of his friends looked at him incredulously, but he seemed oblivious. Slughorn looked like someone had stolen his new toy – which was a remarkably apt analogy.

"Well…I certainly understand, of course, Harry…though I invited an old friend from my own Hogwarts days when I heard you and Mr. Weasley were coming – indoctrinate you as an Auror, you know – so I really was hoping…Oh! I know, I'll just talk to Albus a bit and see if I can't get you released a little early from your punishment. Whatever happened, by the way – awful accident, I heard, and such injuries…" Slughorn looked quite anxious for exciting news of grievous injuries.

"Oh…nothing much, Professor. Broke a window, you know…hit my head a little hard and had a concussion. Madam Pomfrey healed it quickly enough, but I had to stay a few days for observation." Slughorn looked disappointed at the lack of a riveting story, but smiled and promised Harry that he'd see him tonight. Harry had no doubt that time with Slughorn could be considered punishment – cruel and unusual, at that – and thought that maybe Dumbledore would find it amusing enough to agree. Crazy old man.

"Well, are you all ready to take a look through the life of Tom Riddle?" Harry asked as he secured the entire dorm that he and Ron slept in - Dean, Seamus, and Neville were working in the common room anyway - with his three friends after lunch. Katie was very adamant about learning everything that the other two did; with her ability to revoke her occasional kisses, he was in no position to argue with her. The two weren't officially 'dating' yet, but spend quite a bit of time together and were constantly growing closer.

All four of them huddled around the table and viewed Bob Ogden's memory of the Gaunt family, emerging with various sour faces.

"What does that have to do with Voldemort?" Ron asked, confused.

"Marvolo Gaunt was Voldemort's Grandfather, and Morfin his uncle. Merope...was his mother." All three had surprised expressions - such a fairly pitiful squib mothered such a powerful, evil Dark Lord?

"Oh, they treated her so awfully!" Hermione said.

"Yes...once Marvolo came back from Azkaban, Merope had already eloped with Voldemort's father - anyone recognize him?" Tom rather painfully did, the first time the memory was viewed by Harry. The entire sequence was quite difficult for him to bear, in fact.

"That tall Muggle on horseback? He was so handsome, though!" Katie exclaimed, then reddened at Harry's look.

"Yes, Tom Riddle senior. I imagine it was quite the talk of the town, the squire's boy running off with the tramp from the hovel. He came back a year later, saying that he'd been bewitched, but no one believed him. I expect Merope used either the Imperius Curse or, more likely, a love potion." Ron looked skeptical.

"I dunno...she looked like a squib to me..."

"Yeah, but so did Neville with Snape constantly insulting him, and look how he turned out. I bet without her brother and father there, she was just fine. Anyway, she got pregnant and probably lifted the spell or potion or ran out of ingredients, and Riddle left her. She died just after giving birth and naming her child after his father and grandfather, and placing him in an orphanage at London. And that is how Tom Marvolo Riddle came into this world." The three sat, stunned. Katie was the first to ask more questions.

"Wow, Harry...so what is this going to help any?" Harry thought about just how he should answer.

"Well, first of all, as you'll see, Voldemort liked to collect things - like that family amulet from Slytherin. He did it when he was in the orphanage too, you'll see when I show you. Anyway, Dumbledore and I think that he's collected some of these items and made them into Horcruxes." None of their faces showed recognition.

"Hmmm...what's a Horcrux?" Hermione questioned, eager for this knowledge.

"Well...it's a little piece of Voldemort's soul that's held in an object so that he can't be killed. It's why he survived when his curse backfired on him." All three were silent at this.

"Blimey...that's Dark Magic if I've ever heard of it. Splitting your soul and all! It's hard to believe, y'know?" Ron said numbly.

"I think that, as you'll see later, Riddle was an orphan, and always wanted to prove himself special and better than the kids who used to abuse him. Then I bet when he got into Slytherin, they all thought themselves better than him because he was a half-blood, so it was the same thing. Constantly wanting to prove himself better - he even found out that he was descended from Slytherin himself, so that was just more to it. And then he had to separate himself from his father's name - every Pureblood knows that there's no Riddle family - so he became Voldemort."

"So you're studying all this so that you might know what his Horcruxes are?" Hermione questioned.

"Well, not entirely, Hermione. Dumbledore knows Voldemort so well that he can predict how he'd react to a situation. I need to learn to do that too if I'm to fight against him." Harry said seriously.

"Yeah, otherwise we'll really be in trouble after Dumbledore...you know..." It was still hard for the teens to talk about the eventuality - Harry had let his friends know that Dumbledore was not, in fact, cured - where Dumbledore wasn't around.

"After he succumbs to the curse." Harry finished.

"Oh, that's such an awful way to die! I read the description in the book, Harry! His entire corpse shriveling quickly once it reaches his heart and it's supposed to be just agonizing!" Hermione put in. Harry had to agree; Voldemort chose that curse for a reason. It was one of the few Horcruxes not guarded by either a Death Eater, so its protections had to be considerable. As considerable as, say, an Inferi army strengthened against their only real weakness. Harry did not look forward to the day he had to go to after _that_ Horcrux, to be certain.

"Well, on that lovely note, it's time for dinner." Harry said sarcastically. Ron leapt up and was instantly ready to eat despite their morbid topic, but Harry and the two girls hung back a bit from him, obviously still thinking about life after Dumbledore. These thoughts, none of them good, plagued Harry all through dinner; he really only poked at it a little, despite not having eaten a proper lunch due to Quidditch tryouts. After dinner, he trudged up to Dumbledore's office for his detention, but to his surprise he saw both Remus and Tonks there.

"Evening, Professor, I'm here for my detention." Harry said with a slight glance at the two guests.

"Detention? Why did you call us here for Harry's detention?" Remus asked questioningly. Dumbledore seemed to smile slightly.

"I do not believe I ever told you that you would serve detention with me, Harry. I merely said that you had a punishment coming. And your punishment is to tell both Remus and Nymphadora, both of whom care about you very much, exactly what you did last Sunday evening." _Oh, Dumbledore is evil...he should have been in Slytherin..._Tom said. Harry mentally glared at him.

"Oh...alright, then. Where to begin? Well, you both saw the article last Sunday, right?" Tonks smiled brightly and even Remus had a smirk.

"Yes, Harry, quite an accomplishment."

"My mum was laughing her knickers off at the thought of her sisters losing their money - it means everything to them!" Tonks laughed.

"Right...well the night after the news was announced, Voldemort...grew angry. And I had a vision of him planning the attacks on all the Muggle-borns that happened Sunday night." At this, both of them grew serious, and Remus nodded.

"I'm sorry, Harry, it must have been terrible for you to feel so helpless in stopping such a massive attack." Harry nodded.

"Yeah...well, I informed Dumbledore, and he basically told me the same thing; it was impossible to stop all those attacks when I only remembered a few names and all. So I got angry..."

"Your temper, though, is getting better, Harry. At least you did not completely wreck my office this time." Dumbledore smiled softly. Remus raised a questioning eye along with his smirk and mouthed, 'this time?'.

"Right...well I looked at the addresses for the Muggle-borns from the list of Hogwarts letters and then...dove out the window, ran to the edge of the wards, and ran off to fight the Death Eaters alone." Both adults' mouths hung open stupidly.

"What? Window? Alone?" Remus seemed to recover first.

"Yeah...I got injured and ended up back here when Dumbledore rescued me." Harry finished quietly. Remus, however, seemed not to hear him as he grew a little more angry.

"You dove out a bloody _window_! What the hell were you thinking!? No, wait, it's obvious you weren't thinking at all! And Apparated! You could have splinched yourself! In fact, I don't even know how you managed that, but then _you fought the Death Eaters alone?_" His voice rose in a crescendo, and he finally was nearly screaming at the end.

"How many?" He asked in a slightly lower voice as he got control over himself again.

"Two at a time, I went to three houses." Remus' eyes narrowed.

"So you fought six Death Eaters by yourself? Well, I suppose it could have been worse, but really, Harry, what the hell were you thinking? Didn't you think about any of us? What about your friends, how worried they must have been! And me! I just lost Sirius, Harry - you're all I have left!" Tonks didn't even bother to smack his arm at his slip of failing to include her in what he had left, instead adopting an angry expression.

"I didn't think about any of that...it's just...it was my fault that he went out on a rampage because I stole all their money. I just couldn't stand the thought of innocent people being killed because I'm locked up safe here." Remus came over and hugged him - unusual for the usually reserved werewolf.

"I know, Harry; that's the hard part about being the good guys. But listen to me, it's never your fault. And if you ever do something like that and survive, Tonks and I will kill you!" Tonks nodded as she too wrapped Harry in a hug.

"Oddly enough you'd have to wait in line - you aren't the first to issue that threat."

"Good, don't you realize how many people care for you?" Harry looked down at the disappointment obvious in Remus' voice.

"So how did you jump out the bloody window and survive?" Tonks said, breaking the somber tone.

"Oh...a simple _Arresto Momentum_ spell once I neared the bottom. It's usually hard to aim, but if you cast it on yourself it's really pretty easy." Harry said with a smile; this was one trick Tom used quite often, but he lied and said, "I learned how to do it during my training with Moody and using Featherweight Charms to jump high - had to learn to land proper." Tonks shook her head appreciatively while Remus just smiled.

"You know, your father would have been so proud of you - not even he ever figured out how to safely jump off towers. Your mother, however, would have grounded you for years." Harry grinned and decided to collect more memories of his parents.

"Remus, would you mind sharing some memories of my parents and Sirius with me? Professor Dumbledore lent me his Pensieve, so I figured I might as well make use of it." Dumbledore provided a large flask for Remus, who withdrew several large strands and quickly filled the bottle after some thought.

"There you are, Harry, a load of good memories." Tonks put her left hand on Remus' shoulder, and Harry noticed something that wasn't there before.

"My God, Tonks, is that a ring?" Remus blushed while Tonks' face lit up and she nodded viciously, showing him the petite gold ring with a diamond.

"It's beautiful, really! So who's the lucky man?" Tonks smacked him and he smirked.

"So seriously, when and where's the wedding?" Harry asked, excited for his good friends and dueling partners.

"We're thinking about over the Christmas holidays, when our best man can make it." Remus said slowly. Comprehension dawned on Harry and he pointed to himself with trepidation. Remus face split in a grin as he nodded.

"I would love nothing more than for you to be my best man, Harry." Harry wrapped both of them in a hug.

"Of course, I'd love to. So where's it going to be?"

"Oh, it's just going to be a small thing, you know, in front of a few witnesses at the Ministry...then we're off to the honeymoon and then married." Remus said.

"Nonsense, Tonks is a Black. And as Lord Black, I insist that she be married in our ancestral home." He said in an imitation of an arrogant Pureblood.

"In Grimmauld Place? Sorry, Harry, but no - that place is gross." Tonks said, looking at him like he were crazy.

"I've had Kreacher doing some work on it - I imagine it's not so bad now. Anyway, invite all your friends from the Order and your parents, I'm sure they'll want to come." Harry said with an easy grin. Tonks and Remus both looked undecided - after all, how much could Grimmauld Place have changed?

"We'll think about it, Harry, and thank you for the offer. Anyway, we must be off, try not to kill yourself any more. Seriously, try not to kill yourself. Take care, and we love you." Harry felt a brief flutter in his stomach at this last statement, but hugged his friends and kissed Tonks' cheek despite it. He watched them disappear through the Floo, and then turned to Dumbledore.

"You are a genius at coming up with punishments, sir." Dumbledore smiled.

"No, Harry...if I were a genius, I'd have made you tell Molly Weasley. However, I have already received quite the Howler from her, as you can imagine, and so I chose the lighter task. Now, I believe you and I need to have a little discussion." He said, gesturing to the chair.

"How did you learn to Apparate?" Dumbledore cut to the chase, that's for certain.

"Well, sir...you showed me how to do it over the summer, so I kinda just copied that and willed myself to be at the different houses." Harry lied so easily with his Occlumency that he almost felt bad.

"Interesting. Any other skills that I should know about? You've seen Metamorphmagus transformations, Animagus transformations, heard a touch of Mermish, if I remember..." Dumbledore asked somewhat sarcastically.

"No sir, I can't do any of that," _without outside help_, he silently added, thinking about the Metamorph Medal.

"Indeed, at least not without some of Fred and George Weasleys' wondrous candies, I think." He said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Alright, then, Harry, I do believe that Horace is expecting you at his little party, and would be most displeased if I kept you longer. Have a good evening, Harry." Dumbledore dismissed him.

"You too, sir." Harry gave a mental sigh of relief - the Headmaster had, for the most part, accepted his answers without suspicion, though perhaps he had just hidden it from Harry.

Harry was making his way to Slughorn's rooms when he saw something in the shadows that made him freeze to take a closer look. No…it wasn't there now…he activated his glasses to be sure, and then saw the dark cloaked figure hiding in the shadows, likely under a Disillusionment Charm. Harry ducked at Moody's first curse.

"Ha! Good work, boy! I'd love to play, but Albus just requested my presence, so I've got to be off – keep your eyes open like that and you just might survive!" Moody said, smiling frighteningly as he walked away. Harry almost subconsciously stepped to the right to avoid the departing curse from Moody at his back and smiled at Moody's bark of amusement. _Some things never change. And Moody will always be crazy._

Harry finally made it to Slughorn's rooms and, opening the door after plastering on a false smile, made his way through to his friends before finding Slughorn. There were a few different faces from the Express compartment, but Harry knew he would be introduced – paraded around before – all of them before the evening ended.

"Ronald, how absolutely smashing to see you! Why, it's been ages!" Ron gave an exasperated sigh before turning around to see Harry, when he grinned at his friend's joke.

"Harry, thank Merlin, I thought you were McLaggen again or something. Stupid bloke's been eyeing Hermione all night. I had to tell him she was here as my date to get him to bugger off, but even still he's bothersome." Harry did indeed notice that Ron and Hermione were standing somewhat closer than usual; a quick glance at McLaggen showed that he was, indeed, eyeing Hermione somewhat hungrily. _He'd better keep his eyes off Katie, or I'll curse them off…_Harry thought jealously. Tom laughed at him, saying, _Don't worry, Harry, that girl's crazy about you like Ron and Quidditch – she'd be all over you if you made a move._

"Hey guys, where's Katie at?" Harry asked his friends. Ron snickered a bit before responding.

"Well, Slughorn reckoned if he couldn't parade _you_ around until you got here, he'd have to parade 'your wonderful girlfriend – such a sweet couple' all over. I think I've even been introduced to her a few times." Hermione smiled and moved closer to Ron as McLaggen sauntered over, causing Ron to put his arm around his friend; Harry just smirked as Hermione pinkened.

"Harry! I've been wondering when you'd show up. Are you and Bell really dating? I hadn't been aware, but Ol' Sluggy was introducing her to everyone as your girlfriend for ages –"

"Harry!" "Harry, my boy, finally you've shown up!" Katie and Slughorn chose that moment to show up and Katie hurried over, kissing Harry quickly before whispering, "You owe me BIG!" and then smiling sweetly.

"Ah, I was right about the relationship between Ms. Bell and yourself that I've been swearing by all night. A few people objected, but I understand trying to keep that kind of thing quiet, Harry." Slughorn smiled conspiratorially and winked at his favorite student.

"Well, you found us out, Professor, what can I say," Harry said easily, putting a comfortable arm around Katie, who was more than happy to move into his embrace.

"Wonderful, wonderful! I just hope you haven't been using that marvelous Potions skill of yours to brew up love potions to seduce Ms. Bell, here!" Slughorn said. Harry smiled, with the help of his Occlumency to keep from scowling, as many of the surrounding students chuckled appreciatively. Zabini was the only one who made a sarcastic, "Oh, I wouldn't put it past him…how else could he get a girl like Bell?" Which caused Katie to glare at the effeminate boy.

"Now, now, Blaise, we're all friends here! Unfortunately, Harry, I invited my good friend Alastor Moody – we went to Hogwarts together ourselves, you know – to introduce you to the ways of the Auror force; little treat I prepared for you. But he had to make do with keeping your friend Ron company until he left just a few minutes ago.

Now, Harry, I've heard that treacle tart is your favorite desert, so I had one whipped up and saved especially for you. We all enjoy our own treats, eh?" And so began an evening of regalement by Slughorn and others about who they knew and how well they knew them. Slughorn insisted that Melinda Bobbin, whose family owned a chain of apothecaries – little wonder what Slughorn was hoping to glean from _that_ contact – invite several of her family to his next "little party" so that he could be properly introduced. Cormac, it turned out, was planning another outing with his Uncle Tiberius and the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Pius Thicknesse.

"Oh, old Pius! Why, I haven't talked to him in years – sent him a congratulatory letter about his appointment, of course. Why, I remember his first job – I set it up myself, actually. Undersecretary to old Barty Crouch back before Barty was made Head himself!" Slughorn said excitedly – _A former Slug Clubber himself…typical_, Harry thought, growing bored with the party. Tom had, of course, lived through years of them and knew when they would degenerate into boring boasting – particularly if Slughorn hadn't invited someone interesting. Once during Tom's tenure he'd invited a Hag, and that was fairly interesting.

"Yeah, but Mr. Thicknesse insisted on bringing his Secretary Yaxley – I guess he really relies a lot on him. It should be fun, though. I'll be sure to mention you, sir." Slughorn passed off this comment with a smile, but it had caused Harry's to grow cold. _Yaxley…one of the Ministry spies in the last war – a dab hand with the Imperius Curse. Voldemort has the Head of the DMLE unless I'm sadly mistaken._ _I think that when I mentioned him being ready to take over the second that his plan about taking out Dumbledore succeeds was an understatement. Who else could he have under the Imperius?_

Katie nudged him, concerned at the look on his face, but he smiled back at her. Hermione was not as easily swayed and quirked an eyebrow questioningly. Soon enough, however, curfew approached and Slughorn had to dismiss his friends.

"Harry, it was ever so wonderful – I'll have to be sure not to conflict with your detentions anymore, though – naughty boy." Slughorn said with a wink as though he condoned Harry's troublemaking. Harry smiled graciously in return and set off back to Gryffindor tower with his friends, taking care to be some distance from Cormac.

"So what was up back there when Cormac was talking?" Hermione said anxiously.

"Yeah, I saw that too – you were fine one moment and then almost scowling the next. Do you know Thicknesse or something?" Katie put in.

"Not Thicknesse. But I do know Yaxley. One of Voldemort's Death Eaters at the Resurrection." Truthfully Yaxley hadn't shown up, Harry didn't think, but that mattered little. "I think Voldemort mentioned that he worked in the Ministry and used to be an Imperius expert. When Cormac returns from his skiing trip, we'll have to ask him about how Thicknesse looked. I'd bet that he's under Yaxley's curse, though, and that's no good if he's the Head of the DMLE. Voldemort's planning his takeover, and it's going more quickly that I'd feared." Indeed, and Yaxley was an amateur in the curse compared to Mulciber, the real Imperius expert. If Yaxley had the DMLE, Mulciber might very well have Scrimgeour himself. Or at least everyone around him, plotting to kill him. Scrimgeour was quite possibly resistant to the curse, having been a former partner of Moody. It gave Harry much to think about.

The next month past by quickly for Harry and his friends, as schoolwork forced Ron, Hermione, and Katie to focus more frequently on their assignments, leaving Harry to train by himself. Katie, particularly, however, always made time for his training, and always demonstrated rather obviously how much she appreciated him. For training, Harry had worked hard and enchanted five humanoid marble statues to shoot random colors of paint balls at him to dodge or shield as he destroyed them. This proved to be a great exercise for though the golems were not as agile nor creative as a human combatant, Harry gained important practice with combatting multiple opponents - one of his weaknesses as his encounter with the Death Eaters showed. He also learned to avoid green spells, or at least block them with his marble balls. His friends had yet to be able to fight one or two of the statues. He had not quite been able to channel exactly as much magic as he had the day he attacked Moody, but was now able to quite easily reduce the golems to powder, whereas before he would just crack them.

Hermione, however, was far too busy to do any of "Harry's silly games", as she called his training. Consequently, Ron would frequently best her in Defense classes, which boosted his own ego immensely. The development of these golems allowed Harry to, in his own opinion, take his training to a level commensurate with where it should have been after Moody's training. It also gave him the reflexes needed to perform wandless magic well enough and fast enough to be useful in a battle. His shields had progressed remarkably, and he was now even able to erect weak _Absolvo_ shields that would stand up to several curses. His wandless _Aegis_ shields, which didn't protect against extremely powerful curses without shattering, would last against a more steady flow than the advanced shield, as would his wandless _Protego_ shields. His wanded shield work was also excellent, and Ron and Katie often spent hours together battering down shield after shield until Harry was too exhausted to put them up. In a real combat, he knew they wouldn't last as long and he would tire more easily, but Tom assured him that the draining exercises were strengthening his core nicely, and that it was likely that even Voldemort was not as well-versed or practiced in Defensive magic as Harry now was.

One day that Hermione did come to his training room, however, was after she worked on an Arithmancy paper based on Harry's stunning spell notes that he'd "found".

"Harry! Where did you get those notes on that stunning spell?" Hermione asked hurriedly, a sure sign of her excitement, "Professor Vector declared it masterful work - like Mastery level - and she was astonished that she'd never heard of it. I mean, there are so many subtle modifications, it's incredible. She's pretty sure that it came from a Dark wizard, though."

"Really, why is that?" Harry certainly didn't consider himself a Dark wizard - he hated using Dark Magic and as a rule stayed away from it, despite his vast knowledge of it.

"Well, it integrates a lot of aspects of Dark magic. For instance, Professor Vector said that whoever made it had really studied the Cruciatus Curse well, because spell-penetrating aspects of that curse are present, though not as powerful. And the personalization is really remarkable - if the victim isn't woken up by the caster and only the caster, they won't emerge for at least a week, probably longer," Indeed, it had taken two and a half weeks for the Death Eaters Harry had hit to awaken under guard in St. Mungo's, and even then they behaved as though sedated for another few days. "She just can't believe that someone went to all that work modifying a simple Stunning Spell to be so powerful and then left it anonymous. I must say I agree, although maybe if they were so steeped in Dark magic...hey Harry! Who do we know who's modified curses?" Harry had no idea, as he hoped they didn't mean him, but Ron apparently caught her train of thought. Katie was over with two statues, so she hadn't paid attention to Hermione's rant.

"The Half-Blood Prince! You think Snape did it and left it in the Room of Requirement, Harry?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Er...no, I don't think it was Snape that made this." Harry said after a look.

"What? Why not, Harry? I mean, he modified a simple cutting curse to be permanent, and awfully Dark if you ask me! He'd know about the Cruciatus - he probably dreams about putting us under it in class, mate." Harry smiled slightly at Ron's villianization of Snape.

"That's true...but look at the handwriting." Harry finally said, finding a good argument. "The Prince's handwriting, and his in class, is nothing like this. I mean, this is more like Dumbledore's writing or something." And indeed, since Tom had really been doing most of the calculation work, Harry had reverted to the more elegant style of Tom, which he was slowly incorporating into his own work, as to avoid suspicion.

"Hmm, you're right. Plus, I'd bet the Arithmancy work on that awful spell wasn't this elegant. Like I told you, Professor Vector was impressed, and she thought it must have come from a colleague of hers in an Arithmancy magazine or something. I don't think Snape is an Arithmancy Master as well as Potions and the Dark Arts...that's an awful lot of Masteries." Harry agreed with her, even though Tom had more Masteries or equivalent under his belt than that. Secretly, however, he wondered at just how smart Snape was. He was certainly clever enough, and if he was doing that kind of Arithmancy work as a N.E.W.T. student - likely a starting N.E.W.T. student, as well - then he definitely had the potential at one point to get his Mastery. He hadn't back in '81, but he could have studied a bit in fifteen years. Harry was once again forced to reconsider his opinion of the dour Potions Master who evoked nothing but hatred from him for so long, Tom truly believed that even Voldemort underestimated the man.

The coming weekend was their first trip to Hogsmeade, and Harry and Katie had grown quite close since the night he asked her, and both were eagerly anticipating their first date.

When the morning came, the two ate breakfast together - Harry noticed that Katie dressed in one of her nicer outfits, as did Harry; he thanked Tom's sense of style, which was sophisticated and elegant, because his own was practically nonexistent. The two made their way past Filch - who prodded Harry roughly with a Probity Probe - and walked hand-in-hand down to the village. They spent the morning browsing through shops in a rather subdued atmosphere that did nothing to lighten the spirits of the two teenagers. Zonko's had closed down, though Harry couldn't fathom why: Fred and George did well enough even in these worrisome times. Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop was always a fun place to visit, and Harry ended up buying Katie a very large and ostentatious peacock feather quill, which caused her to burst out laughing every time she saw it.

"Honestly, Harry, it's enormous, and I swear that eye is winking at me every time I see it!" She said through laughter as the couple made their way to the Three Broomsticks.

"Well I knew you were a slut, Bell, but you _can't_ be talking about Potter's package in such terms. I'm fairly certain they would be 'miniscule' and 'shriveled'!" Malfoy said to his friends' laughter. Harry took it in stride, though he wanted to roll his eyes at such childishness.

"Now, Draco, I hardly believe that's any way to talk in front of a lady. I'm not quite sure what your father would say if he knew you behaved in such an unbecoming manner. How is he doing, by the way? I was ever so sorry to hear about his incarceration." Harry said with scarily convincing sincerity.

"Don't you talk about my father, you filthy Half-blood fool! When he gets out, I'm sure he'll have a few choice words with you, and one of them will be _Cruc_ -" Draco began.

"Are you implying, Draco, that your father would use an Unforgivable Curse on me? My, I must bring that up with the parole board then...if his own son is so convinced of his guiltiness, it might earn him another few years on the rock..." Harry said, voice trailing off as he opened the door for Katie.

"We'll see how long he lasts in there, Potter!" Draco said hotly. When had Harry become so much better than him at verbal sparring?

"Draco, I suggest you learn to separate what you know from what you foolishly _think_ you know. But I have a date to get to, so ta-ta for now. Do enjoy your Hogsmeade trip!" Harry and Katie entered the tavern; Draco also did, but sat some distance away. Harry noticed that Draco got up to head towards the back - likely the bathroom - and then turned to enjoy his date with Katie. The service was terrible, Harry noticed, and they still hadn't been served when Katie excused herself to use the ladies' room.

Only a moment later, Harry saw a scene that greatly amused him: Professor McGonagall dragging Draco Malfoy by the ear out of the Three Broomsticks.

"When I give you a detention, Mr. Malfoy, I expect you to show up! Now get back to the castle immediately so that you may serve your detention, and _an additional one every day this week!_" She finished angrily, causing Harry to smirk victoriously.

"FINE! I'm finished here anyway!" Draco said, smirking evilly at Harry as he did so.

_Oh no._ Harry frantically thought of what Draco could possibly mean.

_Where's Katie!?!_


	9. Curses, Animagi, an Alliance

**A/N:** Hello all, sorry about the long wait. I had this chapter written and then lost it in a weird email accident, but it has been rewritten better than ever! I also ran into a bit of a hectic schedule that also contributed to the wait, but that ends tonight and I hope to return to my prior pace. Thanks to all my reviewers - there've been more than ever! And thanks to all my readers, I noticed that my hits have more than doubled since I posted the last chapter! Until next time (hopefully only a few days!) -Kevin

__

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Nine: Fighting Curses, Animagi, and an Alliance

Harry frantically glanced around the crowded tavern – damn, it was crowded! – but couldn't see far enough around to see even the entrance to the bathroom area, much less Katie. He pushed his way towards the door roughly, ignoring calls of outrage and rude gestures flashed his way.

"Katie! Katie, where are you?" _What did Malfoy do? Did he curse her? Maybe…but then, he's never before really badly _hurt_ someone, not even Hermione or Ron. But set them up to get in trouble or injured? That's what he and his father both specialize in…_

Harry made his way into the streets, still rather desolate like an eerie reminder of the deserted Diagon Alley earlier this summer, but still didn't see Katie anywhere. He was about to go back in and search the bathrooms when he saw her come out holding a package.

"Katie, thank God, I thought Malfoy did something to you; he was smirking like he had. Katie, what are you doing? What is that package?" He said, growing frustrated as she ignored him.

"I must deliver this package to Dumbledore." She said in a somewhat cruel voice. _Cruel? I didn't think Katie could _be_ cruel_. He spun her around forcefully and looked in her eyes critically. Sure enough, they were cloudy and glazed over. Imperius Curse!

"Katie, listen to me! Fight the curse, don't do what the voice says!" His voice apparently had no impact on her.

"I must deliver this package to Dumbledore." She said in exactly the same tone as before.

"Well bugger that, I'm finished fooling around. _Expelliarmus._" He said as he easily pointed his wand at her. He'd tried to be gentle, but she was thrown across the street and into the shop wall, landing roughly on her front as the package flew to Harry's hand. A silent revealing spell found the object resounding with Dark magic. _Damn!_

Katie got back up and had pulled her wand.

"Give me that package, Potter." She said. Harry merely quirked an eyebrow – a victim under the Imperius curse could fight, but their reflexes would be dulled enough so that they wouldn't pose a challenge to even a moderately skilled duelist.

"_Ossus Diffringo_!" Katie yelled. Harry stepped out of the way of the bright yellow curse – it ended up hitting the boarded up sign of Zonko's behind him, shattering the boards.

"_Soporo_!" He easily levitated her unconscious beside him as he strode up to the castle; several bypassing students moved out of his way – the look on his face a clear indicator that he was _not_ in a good mood. Hagrid intercepted him once he got on castle grounds.

"Harry! Wha' happened? Was there an attack?" Hagrid asked concerned.

"No, Hagrid. Katie was placed under the Imperius Curse, and tasked to deliver this package to Professor Dumbledore; I need Madam Pomfrey and Professor…Snape to help me. He knows more about Dark Magic than anyone else." Hagrid nodded in agreement and sprinted up to the castle – a half-giant could keep a good clip if he'd half a mind, it seemed.

By the time Harry arrived at the Entrance Hall, Snape and Pomfrey were both arriving.

"Potter, what happened to the girl?" Madam Pomfrey inquired as she bustled over.

"She was placed under the Imperius Curse – it was likely imperfectly, so watch for signs of that. She was tasked to deliver this package to Professor Dumbledore. Professor Snape, I thought it best that you check it out – a revealing spell showed it to be cursed, so I wouldn't touch it if I were you," Snape sneered at Harry's obvious warning and picked up the package, stalking off when he realized that he was no longer needed immediately.

"I had to fight her to get the package from her, Madam Pomfrey. An expelliarmus knocked her against a wall to disarm her of the package, and a stunning spell after she shot a spell off at me. Only I can awaken her from the stunning spell, it's an advanced one." Madam Pomfrey nodded, but didn't tell him to awaken the girl.

"Alright, Potter…I'll need to do a more thorough examination in the hospital wing, but she should be fine. I'll let you know when I need your assistance to awaken her, but if she's under the Imperius Curse and violent as you say, it might be best to keep her under for now." Harry nodded in concurrence and was left alone in the Hall with Hagrid as she was removed. His face showed a worried expression, and he was shaken from his thoughts when Hagrid interrupted him, concerned by his countenance.

"Come on, Harry, have a cuppa wit' me in me hut," Hagrid said, placing his hand on the boy's back. Harry followed Pomfrey and Katie with his eyes as they disappeared from his sight, and then nodded distantly, allowing Hagrid to lead him away.

"Really, Harry, I'm sure she's goin' to be right fine, you'll see!" Hagrid said jovially as he poured himself more tea. Harry hadn't touched his own, and indeed the only change was that his distant, hurt expression had turned darker and more into a purposeful glare.

"Anyway, wait'll you see littl' Grawpy again, 'e's turnin' inta a right gentl'man, I 'spect. Gonna 'ave ta find 'im a lady Giant 'ere soon…" Hagrid's attempt at conversation was mostly ignored by Harry, whose thoughts had turned to darker things. The name Grawp, however, did penetrate his mind.

_I wonder if Grawp would like to be involved…tearing Malfoy limb from limb physically would probably be a bit more satisfying…or maybe an enlargement spell on myself as I tear him apart…yes, the blood on my own hands is better, I think…_Harry said mostly to himself.

_Harry, you have to stop this. Trust me, Malfoy will get his due, but not right now, don't kill him yet. Remember, we need him because without him, Voldemort's plot falls apart and he'll use a better one that you won't know about!_ Tom tried. Unfortunately, Harry ignored him like he had Hagrid. Ron and Hermione bursting into the hut didn't even cause him to look up.

"Harry, we heard what happened – rumors are flying everywhere!" Hermione said.

"Yeah, what was wrong, why'd you hex Katie? I thought she liked you…didn't imagine the date going _that_ badly…" Ron said. Hermione turned to glare at him. He finally turned to them, hard look still on my face.

"Ron, Hermione, you two can split my things between you, including the Gringotts account – key is in my trunk." He said, pushing away the tea and rising.

"What? Why, mate, what's going on?" Ron said, not understanding. Hermione had a similarly confused look.

"I'm going to be expelled and likely imprisoned." Harry said quite calmly as he made for the door, but his friends blocked his way.

"What? For attacking Katie?" Hermione interjected.

"No. I'm going to murder Draco Malfoy. Please step aside." His friends made to grab his arms, but they were merely dragged along with him – when had Harry become so strong? Only the sight of Professor Dumbledore at the doors of the castle proper when he arrived slowed Harry down.

"Harry, tell me what happened; I've just been to see Ms. Bell in the hospital wing, and Severus was quite curious as to how she came upon such a Dark object. I am rather pleased to see you alright, of course, Harry." Dumbledore was calm. _How can he be calm at a time like this? One of his students was attacked – not that that's a rarity or anything, but still!_

"Malfoy Imperius cursed Katie. She wanted to give you that package, but I stopped her. Now, I'm going to kill Draco Malfoy – you might want to inform Filch, I intend for it to be messy as I tear him apart slowly." Harry said, raw fury in his voice. Dumbledore saw this and magic flowed from the ancient wizard as he put a stop to Harry's anger.

"Harry Potter, calm down this instant!" He said harshly. The tingle of magic flowing over him and the force of Dumbledore's words cleared Harry's mind quickly, and he realized how he had almost taken the first step to Voldemort's Dark path and given in to his anger and grief. Harry's face turned from cold fury to disgust with himself.

"I'm sorry, Professor…I don't know what came over me…" Harry began.

"Nonsense, Harry – it is quite obvious that you care for Ms. Bell, and so any attack on her makes you want to reciprocate. I am afraid, however, that it is the duty of wizards like us not to give in to such urges and fight Darkness with Darkness. For such, quite obviously, only leads to more Darkness. Now why don't you come up to my office for a bit and tell me what happened? Thank you, Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger." Dumbledore said as he placed his arm on Harry's shoulder and dismissed his friends. Harry and Dumbledore made their way to his office before their conversation resumed.

"Now, Harry, why don't you tell me what occurred in a bit more detail?" Dumbledore smiled reassuringly as he handed Harry a cup of tea and saucer. _I don't need any more blasted tea..._he thought petulantly before beginning.

"Well, Katie and I were together in Hogsmeade, and we ran into Malfoy outside of the Three Broomsticks. He tried to get a rise out of me, but we just walked inside, and I noticed Draco followed us; I thought he went into the bathroom, but he must've gone into the back. Service was slow…really slow, actually, now that I think of it…and Katie got up to use the ladies' room. A short while after, Draco was dragged out by Professor McGonagall, but was smirking at me, so I knew something was up. Sure enough, Katie came out carrying a package and acting oddly; I recognized the Imperius curse, so I had to stun her and take the package. I brought her up here to Madam Pomfrey. What can you tell me about the package?" Dumbledore nodded thoughtfully.

"The package contained an opal necklace with a deadly curse on it – had either Ms. Bell or I touched it, we would have almost instantly been struck by the curse and likely no longer be living; thank goodness we've avoided that fate. Professors Snape and McGonagall will check Mr. Malfoy's wand for evidence of the Imperius Curse, as you say. If we find that evidence, then of course things are out of my hands and he'll receive life imprisonment for casting an Unforgivable. If not, then I'm afraid we have quite the mystery on our hands." Harry agreed that this was fair.

"I don't know, sir…I just don't like the feel of this plot by Draco…it's too heavy-handed. The plot with the Cabinet is subtle and well thought-out; it could be that he's having problems with the cabinet or something and wanted this easier way out, but I can't imagine that he'd do something so rash, to risk exposure like this. Something doesn't add up, in my opinion." Harry just couldn't think of what it was that bothered him about the plan. It was…just not Slytherin enough.

"I see…well, if you unravel your misgivings, do let me know, Harry. In any case, why don't you return to your friends and allow Ms. Granger to properly dissect the day's events? By the way, Harry, I believe Monday evening will be a good time for us to continue with our lessons." Harry excused himself and made his way not to Gryffindor Tower, but the hospital wing. He would see his friends eventually, but wanted to be sure that Katie was okay first. And give him time to think, of course. He was glad of Dumbledore scheduling the next lesson – he was getting a bit worried at both their inconsistency and Dumbledore's surprisingly common absences. Although if Harry knew he were dying, perhaps he'd have things to put in order as well.

"Potter, what are you doing here, are you injured or here to see the girl?" Madam Pomfrey asked as Harry stepped into her wing.

"Oh, no, I'm fine...just here to see Katie." Harry said, making his way over to the bed where she lay sleeping.

"Alright, that's fine. I'm ready for you to wake her up, anyway, I've healed her and I believe that I've broken the Imperius Curse's hold on her. Dreadful, I say, I haven't had to work with that curse since the last war!" Madam Pomfrey said disapprovingly.

"_Enervate_." Harry said simply. Katie opened her eyes slowly, smiling as she saw Harry.

"Good morning, how was your nap?" Harry said with a smile that covered his worried mind. Only with the most inexpertly applied Imperius Curses was there a real chance of permanent damage, but one never knew.

"What happened, why am I in the Hospital Wing?" Katie asked, disoriented.

"You were put under the Imperius Curse, Katie. I think it happened while you were in the bathroom at the Three Broomsticks. Do you remember that?" Harry asked, hoping that she'd remembered her attacker.

"I remember...I was on my way to the bathroom...but someone cursed me as I walked through the door - they must have hit me from behind, I don't remember anything about who it was. I think the voice sounded female, though." _Malfoy has a pretty feminine voice..._Harry thought, clutching for straws.

_Either that or the great Harry Potter gave into his prejudice and allowed it to overcome his sensibilities. Draco may have known about the plot - talked with the other Death Eater in the tavern, even, but may not have carried it out himself._ Harry grumbled in agreement.

_It could have even been one of the other Slytherins...Parkinson or something._ Harry postulated.

_I don't know...it isn't very Slytherin to risk life imprisonment on an ill-conceived plot. Which is why you were suspicious of Draco to begin with._ Tom argued.

_I know...and I hated having a good point then, too._ Harry thought petulantly. Such behavior seemed to be the order of the day, but he forced himself to think clearly with the new outlook that Tom's presence had provided, difficult as it was.

"Harry, is everything alright? What happened while I was cursed?" She asked hesitantly.

"Oh, everything's fine, Katie, don't worry about it. You were supposed to deliver something to Dumbledore, but I ended up taking it from you and stunning you. Sorry if I was a little rough..." She just smiled and patted his hand, which was holding her own.

"That's alright, Harry - my back is a little sore, though...what curse did you use?"

"Well, just a disarming spell. I tried to be gentle, but it ended up throwing you against a wall pretty hard...I'm not surprised your back is sore." Madam Pomfrey hurriedly gave her a pain relief potion. When she walked away, Katie lowered her voice suggestively.

"Next time you want me up against a wall so badly, Harry, just ask!" She said with a sexy grin.

"I'll be sure to take you up on that offer," Harry said with a flash of a dazzling smile.

"You'd better, I can't owe you for saving my life forever, after all. Sorry I ruined our first date, by the way..." She said, seriously looking contrite. He decided to break her of that.

"Are you kidding? Honestly, I was expecting a few dragons, Voldemort, and maybe a wild manticore or something, but you getting put under the Imperius curse wasn't all THAT boring..." He said jokingly, causing her to laugh appreciatively.

"Besides, if you want to make it up to me, we'll just have to have a few more." Katie brightened considerably.

"If you're asking me to be your girlfriend, I accept."

"Oh, I wasn't, but good to know." She slapped him and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

"Alright, now get out of this room before Madam Pomfrey throws you out!" She said as she released him.

"Are you kidding? She usually tries anything to get me to stay, I think she'd be more appreciative!" He said as he walked out, Katie throwing a pillow at him. He thoughtlessly levitated it without a wand and laughingly told her, "Behave, my little Katiekins!" Before ducking out of the room and heading back to Gryffindo tower.

_At least the attacker set you up nicely to go out with Katie_, Tom said with a mental smile.

_Oh, you're just glad I didn't turn out gay or something, and you'd have to watch_, Harry cheekily replied.

_Hmm...it seems that you are getting to know me and my motivations all too well, my young companion. Now, I think it high time that you receive some of the memories of my own school days - after all, you don't want to seem inexperienced when Katie -_ Thankfully Tom's little tirade on just what he expected Harry and Katie to get up to was interrupted by the fine timing of Ron and Hermione, who seemed to be making their way from Gryffindor tower.

"Harry, thank heavens, what is going on? What did Professor Dumbledore want? How's Katie doing? Did you visit the Hospital Wing already?" Hermione began her usual barrage of questions, but Harry cut her off before she really got on a roll.

"Not here, let's head to the training room, it's closest." Harry led his friends to the room, where he wandlessly slammed the door and activated the security and privacy wards. He also may have happened to activate four of the marble golems, but his excuse was a bit of extra pent-up frustrations that he couldn't take out on a certain annoyingly smug inbred cretin.

"_Ossus Diffringo!"_ Harry yelled with a snarl as one arm exploded off of the nearest golem. After that, he was silently casting as he tossed the mindless stone creations around like volatile, exploding ragdolls and explaining how he'd spent his day to his friends.

"_Confringo!"_ Harry's final curse hit the three remaining golems, all in various states of disrepair, and the ensuing explosion left only small chunks of marble on the floor. His friends were a bit wide-eyed at the scene of utter destruction that he'd wrought before them.

"Well, mate...you all finished with your anger bit, or d'you need another partner?" Ron asked somewhat jokingly. His smile fell as Harry nodded and turned his wand on his friend with a whispered, "_Flipendo._" Hermione rolled her eyes as Harry left bruises, cuts, and welts on his friend.

"You know, Ron," Harry said as he hit his friend in the gut with a Bludgeoning Hex and Banished him into the nearest bookshelf, "I really think that living opponents are the better answer. More unpredictable, you know?" Harry easily sidestepped Ron's silent stunner and batted a follow-up curse away with his wand.

"Are you two quite finished? Fine spellwork, by the way, Harry, it is good to see you expanding your repertoire even at Ron's expense. Are those chains of spells commonly taught? I've never seen such quick spellwork before!" Hermione cut in a few minutes later, ignoring Ron's black eye, gimp leg, and useless arm. Harry walked over to him and started applying various healing charms while he fielded her questions.

"Oh, yes. If you work out specific combinations - how to optimally combine wand movements and all that - it really speeds up spellcasting. Eventually you can get just about every useful combination down and your entire duel will be one long spellchain. But I wanted to give ol' Ronnie a chance there to avoid _some_ of my curses. Of course, only the really gifted and practiced duelists get long spellchains down pat; Dumbledore, of course, and Voldemort. Moody, though he didn't really work on that with me this summer, I'm sure has a few nasty chains at his disposal. It's above N.E.W.T. level Defense, but its a pretty common thing to see on the dueling circuits. You could ask Flitwick about it, I'm sure he knows, being a dueling champion." Hermione nodded excitedly at this prospect and nearly turned around there to go to the Charms professor, but apparently thought better of leaving Harry alone with an already injured Ron.

Soon enough, Harry was in a much better mood and was quite exhausted as he and his friends made their way up to Gryffindor tower to do some homework before dinner.

"Too bad I had to be a substitute for Malfoy, though, Harry. Glad you didn't hex me blonde or something, I guess..." Hermione smiled a bit, but another voice caused any would-be grin to stop forming on Harry's face and his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"I suppose that would be a _poor_ man's substitute, Weasel. Heard about your new tramp, Potter -" Draco didn't get another word in as Harry spun faster than the blonde could react and soon had him lifted off the ground by the collar of his shirt, both of Harry's hands dangerously close to his neck. Draco somehow had the foresight to shut up when he saw the green eyes - so oddly reminiscent of the Killing Curse - flash menacingly.

"Draco, I know it was you. I don't know how, and I know you won't be caught. But I don't buy it, not for a second. Stay away from me, or you'll be on the receiving end of something more bloody dangerous than an Imperius Curse." Harry let Draco drop as he spun away and stormed off, cloak billowing like only a certain new Defense teacher could usually accomplish. His friends looked momentarily at each other and a silent Draco, who was stunned and somewhat scared at Potter's outburst, before following Harry to the Gryffindor common room.

Perhaps he'd underestimated Potter. Probably not, though...how much could a person change in a summer, anyway?

Harry was forced to use his budding Occlumency talents as he struggled to finish an essay for Snape. He'd already cracked two quills from either his harsh grip or accidental magic. As a result, his essay on Inferi - another one, Snape must really like them - had rather more detailed descriptions of the creatures than Harry would have usually put in; he didn't like to flaunt Tom's knowledge in that particular subject, as Snape was far too observant.

Most of Sunday he spent in the hospital wing with the recovering Katie, who enjoyed the company and flirtatious banter as they both worked on assignments. Katie had seemed awfully quiet the entire time, but nothing besides schoolwork came up while they sat there.

"Honestly, Katie, I think that if you put in a little love rune, it wouldn't hurt. Maybe tie it in with a bit of a memory charm and make people love to learn Ancient Runes while in the classroom." He said, giving her advice on a Runes project. While Hermione was still reviewing translations, the 7th year class was carving meaningless little wards that usually didn't last long, a task they'd started at the end of sixth year.

"That combination is pretty wonky, Harry, I don't think I could get it to work very easily." Harry quirked an eyebrow and looked at her sheet critically.

"Try making the two flow more easily. Connect these two lines here...it's like a written spell chain. Also cuts back on the power you have to put into it. Now it'll last about a week, unless you tie it to a charging rune...I wonder if you could tie it to the castle's ward scheme..." It would be interesting to mess a bit with the old castle's wards. Though likely dangerous and definitely not a good idea.

"How can you possibly know these things, anyway! You never even took Ancient Runes, and you're like...a professional warder or something! Seriously, is someone Polyjuiced as you or something?" She narrowed her eyes a bit at him, but he just smirked.

"Of course not - I told you I did a bit of reading about wards this summer. That was just one trick in a Household Wards book; wanted to make their home more welcoming, I think." Harry lied. Tom had often used complex chains of wards for nasty effects, beginning in his own Ancient Runes class.

"A bit of reading? You somehow learned five years of Runes in a few months - not to mention all the time you were training that you've told me about! Did you have any free time this summer?" She asked skeptically.

"Well, I like to keep busy...besides, at the Dursleys it was either sit in my room and read or show my face to the Dursleys and get screamed at, so I spent a fair bit of time reading." Harry said. In conversations, especially with girls, he knew that any mention of his abusive relatives would always stop their line of inquiry in a hurry - it was like a trump card that Harry was more than willing to use, particularly now that he and Tom had accepted their negligence and gotten past it.

"Right, sorry, Harry, I forgot about that..." Katie looked sheepish. _Works better than magic..._Tom thought with a smirk of success.

"No problem, Katie." Harry said, placing his hand in hers.

"Ah, Mr. Potter! Ms. Bell! So good to see both of you. I was ever so relieved to hear that you were well on the road to recovery, Ms. Bell. Honestly, these dangerous times...a travesty, children can't even visit Hogsmeade safely. When young Severus told me about your accident, I immediately grew concerned, of course. Two of my favorite young students involved, I must say!" Harry stifled the urge to roll his eyes at the arrival and bluster of Professor Slughorn.

"Now, then, I just wanted to let you both know that tomorrow evening is another one of my little get-togethers!" Katie smiled at Harry - she was laid up by Madam Pomfrey until at least Tuesday morning, according to the Mediwitch, and so had a perfect excuse to avoid the parties. They were alright every once in a while, but nauseating in large doses.

"I'm ever so sorry, Professor, but, as you can see, I'm confined to the Hospital Wing for a bit longer. Madam Pomfrey's orders, you see..." Katie said with a marvelously faked wistful sigh.

"I have another meeting with Professor Dumbledore, sir. And it's going to take all night, I'm fairly certain - we've much to discuss." Slughorn looked mightily curious as to what Harry and the Headmaster might be discussing, but somehow managed to stop himself from asking.

"Horace! What a pleasant surprise!" Madam Pomfrey said as she walked in; it was apparently time for another checkup for Katie. Professor Slughorn gave Harry a sly wink as he turned around to the hospital Matron.

"Why Poppy, you look ravishing today, as always," did Madam Pomfrey blush? Slughorn was seducing Madam Pomfrey? "I was just coming to ensure the health of two of my wonderful Potions students here, and I was sad to hear that Ms. Bell would be laid up until after a little get-together I was planning for Monday night." Madam Pomfrey cast a few spells over Katie and seemed to think a moment.

"Oh, yes, I was planning to release her Tuesday morning before classes. But...I suppose, if she'll take it quite easy and this party of yours isn't too strenuous, she could attend. Only for a bit, mind, you, Horace." Professor Slughorn bowed to the Mediwitch and kissed the back of her hand, causing her to blush and giggle. Harry and Katie shared an odd look at this.

"Oh, Poppy, you're so good to an old man. By the way, I have that latest batch of blood replenishing potions for you; in fact, some of the batch here were brewed by Mr. Potter! Have I told you what a fabulous Potions student he is? Almost everything he brews is medicinal quality, and his Blood Replenishers were the equal of my own! So I decided to just make you one cauldron and supplement it with his own." Madam Pomfrey thanked Harry and Horace graciously.

"Well, Harry, I'm sorry you won't be able to make it...do stop by if you kip out a bit early, of course. And Ms. Bell, I'll see you tomorrow evening. Do rest up, my dear, nothing too strenuous now! Poppy," he once more kissed her hand and winked suggestively at her, "I'll be hoping to see you soon." She giggled once more - Harry could hardly believe that she _giggled_ - before she glanced at the two teens after Slughorn left.

"A fine recovery, dear." She said as she blustered out of the Hospital Wing.

"Slughorn...and Madam Pomfrey? How long was _that_ going on?!" Katie finally said.

"I don't know...they were both here a long time...they might've had this torrid affair for twenty years or something..." Harry shivered at the thought and Katie smiled.

"Harry?" Her tone turned serious after a moment.

"Yeah?"

"Is this going to happen a lot? Am I going to be a target?" Harry turned to her, and saw that this was what had made the day spent together so uncomfortable.

"Unfortunately yes, Katie. Particularly if we're an actual couple...it's going to make you a target for Voldemort and his Death Eaters. But I promise that I'll do whatever I can to protect you. And help you protect yourself, of course."

"I know, Harry...but I'm scared. I mean, this wasn't even a real attack, and I was just totally helpless! I couldn't even fight off one curse! And you...you can easily fight off an Imperius curse from Voldemort, you duel him to a standstill at every turn, you somehow master Runes in a summer and know way more than I do after years...you're some kind of super-wizard, and I'm just a normal witch! I...I can't do those things like you...I don't go on adventures and nearly get killed...I'd be terrified!" As she spoke, she got quieter and her eyes grew slightly watery. Harry wrapped her in a hug before climbing into her hospital bed with her to stroke her back as he comforted her.

"Katie...I'm no super-wizard! I make mistakes, loads of them, and sometimes I escape unharmed; usually I end up unconscious for a week. And trust me, I'm terrified too - every time! I think about what could happen to me, or my friends, and I'm scared stiff, trust me. But I just take it as it comes and try to survive. I'm not saying that you won't ever be injured, or be put in danger; truthfully it's pretty likely when you hang around me. But you'll never be at it alone - I'll always be there, fighting right with you. And have some faith in yourself - you're a powerful young witch, and very brave." She snuggled up to his chest, the tears threatening her eyes never falling.

"But I just feel so useless. Just like when my mum was attacked - I just didn't do anything! And now, I just got cursed in the back and now I don't know what happened at all...I'll just be a liability to you, Harry."

"Oh, bollocks, anyone by my side isn't a liability. And I'd rather have you by my side than just about anyone! Look at the training we do - you're fighting more golems than Ron, and he's been in a few scrapes with me before! When the pan hits the fire, I think you'll do just fine, Katie. And I'll be there to say, 'I told you so' afterwards. And snog you, of course. I imagine an after-battle snog would be just the thing to wind down." His new girlfriend grinned and rolled her eyes.

"Really? You know, I could use a bit of a wind-down from that Imperius Curse -" She was cut off mid-thought as Harry leapt at the offer. Only Madam Pomfrey's shrill shriek interrupted them a few minutes later.

"HARRY POTTER! Get out of my Hospital Wing this instance! What do you think this is, a call house? And you, Ms. Bell! You should be resting!" Harry grinned roguishly at the matronly Mediwitch and gave Katie, who was adjusting her shirt rather conspicuously, a goodbye peck on the cheek.

"See you later, Katie-kins!"

"Why do you call me that stupid name!" She called out too late after he closed the door.

Harry spent all of Monday's classes rather distracted, as he mentally reviewed all of what he wanted to discuss with Professor Dumbledore. He would admit to being somewhat curious as to the insight Professor Dumbledore could provide to Voldemort's psyche, particularly any recent developments, but Harry was anxious to learn from the aged wizard – what magics he must know that went beyond even Tom's formidable wealth of knowledge. Harry also was hoping for access to Professor Dumbledore's private library – Tom knew that Dumbledore had confiscated titles on Horcruxes from an admission by Professor Slughorn long ago, and surmised that there must be other ancient tomes ferreted away in his office.

And so Harry was hardly focused on his lackadaisical Charms lesson on advanced inanimate manipulation – he was far beyond the class in that anyway, thanks to his marble balls that saw so much use in his combat training. Neither was Harry much focused on his attempts at small level conjuration in Transfiguration class. He merely created the requisite scrap of parchment and received a nod from Professor McGonagall. Snape attempted to catch Harry unaware with a nonverbal hex, but at this he instantly snapped to attention and batted it away, sending glass shards raining down onto the outside grounds as the hex tore through the closed window. Snape scowled and continued his lecture. Harry found that Snape's intermittent cursing of Harry was actually beneficial to his _Constant Vigilance_ training that he'd received from Mad-Eye. Perhaps Snape had that in mind and wasn't just trying to kill his most hated student. Unlikely, but perhaps.

It was finally when he was tapping his quill on the table as he sat with Ron and Hermione finishing a Defense Essay on the weaknesses of the stunning spell that his patience finally wore out.

"Hey, I'm going to head to dinner; I'm a little anxious for Professor Dumbledore's lessons, so I need to do something." Ron eagerly put his homework away and was almost out the door when Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Honestly, Harry, you'll never get all your homework finished if you're constantly skipping on study time to get a few more minutes to eat. If you followed the schedule I worked out for you –" Harry resisted scowling in annoyance. Hermione had, despite Harry beating her in every class he took, insisted that he and Ron follow the strict daily schedule she created for them; they rarely followed it, instead spending time training – which Hermione refused to schedule – and practicing Quidditch. Harry's Chasing skills were improving nicely as he attempted to get past Ron's defenses.

"Oh, come on, Hermione, you're writing an Arithmancy essay that isn't even due until next week! At least don't complain if you're ahead in classes!" Ron exclaimed. She finally relented and followed the boys downstairs for a lengthy dinner. Afterwards, Harry immediately made his way to Dumbledore's office after dinner without heading to the common room; at the Headmaster's "Enter", he strode in.

"Ah, Harry, how good to see you. Please, have a seat." Harry did so with a serious face, and began the first line of questioning for the night.

"Professor, what developments are there in what happened to Katie?" Dumbledore too adopted a somber visage as he answered.

"No news, Harry. We checked young Mr. Malfoy's wand, and it was clean of the Imperius Curse," Harry swore – how had Malfoy done that? Harry had been certain of his guiltiness! "But I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that the cursed necklace, which would have been quite deadly indeed to either Ms. Bell or myself, had it been touched, has been destroyed by Severus. As I'm sure you already know, Ms. Bell should suffer no permanent damage from the ordeal. So I'm afraid we're rather stuck." Dumbledore said with a soft smile. Harry looked unimpressed.

"Stuck? What does that mean? I saw her enter the back area of the Three Broomsticks – she was headed for the bathroom – and she heard what she thought was a female voice say the curse. Draco knew _something_, as evidenced by his behavior towards me after Professor McGonagall found him and was dragging him out. I say question him with Veritaserum – I know Snape has some." Harry said quickly.

"_Professor_ Snape, Harry. And yes, I'm sure Severus has his stores, but such questioning is _illegal_, quite rightfully so, I might add." Dumbledore said, raising his eyebrows at the somewhat cold tone Harry had adopted. Harry's eyes narrowed in frustration.

"That didn't stop that bint Umbridge from trying it. But I concede the point, I don't want anything in common with her. Fine then, how did Draco get the necklace to Hogsmeade? Can he Apparate?" Harry continued.

"I told you that we have no reason to believe Draco guilty, Harry, and I must ask that you cease this unfair treatment of him." Harry used his Occlumency to avoid snapping rudely at the venerable Headmaster. "Now, we must attend to the true reason for our meeting tonight – to discuss the memories which I assume you have already viewed. So what can you tell me about Tom Riddle?" Dumbledore said more pleasantly.

"He was conceived in a loveless union, likely under false pretenses; I believe a love potion, but it could have just as easily been an Imperius Curse. Merope was on her last pence by the time Tom was actually born, and sold a priceless Slytherin artifact to Burke for a pittance in order to survive." Dumbledore nodded appreciatively at Harry's quick summary.

"Indeed, Harry. I too believe that it was a potion that Tom was conceived under; Merope would have thought it more romantic, I believe. Please, continue." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"The next the magical world knew of Tom Riddle, he was in a muggle orphanage; he'd learned to control his magic through incredibly advanced nonverbal wandless magic – such proficiency was previously unheard of - and was using his magic to manipulate the other children in the orphanage. He was a bully, a thug, and a thief, who collected little treasures from people he'd terrorized. He was excited by how he was special – better than the other children, in his mind. He loved the feeling of power, I think, and self-importance that brought about. It must have bothered him terribly to be terrorized by the little Purebloods in Slytherin, when he himself was a Half-blood. Tom was also totally self-reliant, and used to doing things for himself." Harry again summarized with the help from the Tom inside his head, who grew rather bitter at his former younger self, incapable of seeing the error of his ways.

"All excellent points, Harry, and many important ones. These traits will grow to define the person Voldemort became." Dumbledore input with a gesture for Harry to continue.

"The Diary Riddle told me that he adopted the nickname Lord Voldemort as a student, and I believe that was because everyone knew that Tom Riddle was a Mudblood name, but Lord Voldemort was the heir of Slytherin and the most powerful wizard of his generation. Then he opened the Chamber of Secrets, and somehow found out about Horcruxes, which he questioned Professor Slughorn about after a Slug Club meeting one day. Interestingly falsified memory, by the way. After that, he came back to apply for the Defense job that Headmaster Dippet denied him because of his age. At that time, he'd obviously made a few more Horcruxes, because he looked less human and more like the Voldemort I know. So why did he come back for the Defense job?" Harry said, baiting the Headmaster and truly wondering if he knew the truth.

"That is something that I am not certain of, Harry. I believe that Hogwarts was the first place that Voldemort actually called home, and that can be a powerful lure. Also, he may have been interested in recruiting students, which would have been easily accomplished if he was their trusted instructor." He said in what Harry knew was a guess. Harry decided to allow Dumbledore to know some of the truth that he did, and led the old man down the right path.

"Really, Professor? I thought it might be something more insulting to you personally." He began.

"Why is that, Harry?"

"Well, it's well known that you're the only challenger to his power and his plans, and since you've discovered these things about his Horcruxes, you're obviously just as clever as he is. So he'd want to prove himself cleverer, and trick you." Harry said, intentionally taking breaks as though he was just thinking of this.

"What are you getting at, Harry?" Dumbledore seemed mildly disturbed by the boy's thinking.

"Well, if he wanted to really humiliate you, why not give you a part of the very soul of the man you want to defeat to guard and keep safe? I think he came to Hogwarts under the pretense of looking for a job in order to hide a Horcrux in the castle." Dumbledore looked anxious indeed, and somewhat flabbergasted.

"I think that I would have found such a hiding spot before now, Harry."

"You never found the Chamber of Secrets." Dumbledore opened his mouth to respond, then closed it.

"In the Chamber? It is certainly well protected…" Harry smirked.

"No, there wasn't anything in the Chamber except the Diary when I went down there last year. I think he hid it in the Room of Requirement." Dumbledore's eyes raised into his hairline.

"After all, he was certainly arrogant enough to believe that he was the only one who found the Room of Hidden Things and was able to control it to do his bidding – and he liked control, after all. And it was in that room that he first learned about Horcruxes, I'd bet. I stumbled across a few books with them in it when I was looking for Draco. And I also found something else, something I recognized in your memories." Dumbledore stood up quickly and walked over to his wall, reverently taking down the gleaming Sword of Gryffindor and retrieving Fawkes from his perch.

"Come, Harry, and get under your invisibility cloak. We're going to the Room of Requirement." Dumbledore said before thumping his own head with his wand. He grimaced slightly before he turned totally invisible – what a powerful Disillusionment Charm!

"Professor, how can a sword destroy a Horcrux? Wait…is that a goblin-made sword?" Harry said as Tom figured it out. Goblin-made steel would take on the qualities of any substance it came across that was deadlier than itself. And that particular sword had fought a basilisk – an ancient basilisk whose venom was already seen to have been powerful enough to destroy a Horcrux in the Diary. _That old man is more brilliant than even I ever realized. Remarkable_, Tom complimented.

"Indeed it is, Harry. The sword absorbed Basilisk venom and can now destroy Horcruxes – a useful little tool, is it not?" Harry could hear the smirk on his face. They advanced to the wall opposite the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy and Harry paced three times. Luck was with them, for Draco was not in the Room, and thus, the door appeared and they entered the enormous room full of hidden and forbidden things.

"The item of interest is over there, Professor." Harry pointed in the opposite corner from Draco's cabinet. He glanced over at the Cabinet and was upset to notice that Draco's work was coming along – he should be nearly finished by the Winter holidays. Harry expected an attack any time afterward.

"By Merlin, Harry! The Cup of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's Diadem! The Diadem was thought lost since the time of the Founders! Extraordinary indeed!" Dumbledore animated clenched his teeth as he cast a few diagnostic spells. _Did any kind of spell-casting really affect him so? If he keeps this up, he may not last until July like he hoped._

"Both of them are Horcruxes. Amazing deduction, Harry – I daresay that you have gotten to know Voldemort better even than myself, to think along such lines." Dumbledore awkwardly hefted the Sword with some difficulty.

"I can do that, if you like, sir. I want to destroy any part of Voldemort anyway." Harry said with determination coming from both himself and Tom.

"Certainly, Harry. Don't be concerned over what may happen, and try to ignore the feelings of hatred and anger – the Horcrux will try to tempt you not to destroy it." Dumbledore handed him the beautiful blade, which Harry gripped. It felt comfortable in his hand, it fit him as it hadn't when he was twelve, and he tightened his grip, drawing comfort from the leather bindings. He raised it as though to jab it through, when he heard an almost tangible voice question why he was doing so.

_No need to destroy it, after all…the meddlesome old man is wrong! He kept things from you! But you could be powerful…the diadem grants wisdom. More wise than Voldemort! You could use this Horcrux to defeat him more quickly, and save lives!_ Harry ignored the voice as he prepared to slice the Diadem from top to bottom.

_No! Kill the old man! You don't need to do his bidding! NOOO!!_ The voice seemed to cry in anguish, causing Harry to shiver as he rent the Horcrux. A slight sizzling – the destructive effects of the Basilisk venom was heard and a black shadow accompanied the last cry as the spirit lost its hold on this life. Harry's face was hard and featured a slight curl of disgust on his lip. Dumbledore put a reassuring left hand on his shoulder.

"That's a hard thing to do, Harry, as I well know. The soul of Voldemort attempts to corrupt and turn you until the last possible moment. It is a difficult thing, to destroy it. I am proud of you." Harry nodded without smiling back at Dumbledore, and merely moved to the next Horcrux, which was already starting to prey on him, adopting a different tactic from its brother.

_Can you do it, Harry? Can you sacrifice yourself? That's what it will take, you know, to remove "Tom", as you affectionately call that little piece in your head. How touching. Are you even sure of him? Voldemort is nothing if not manipulative…he could be playing you this whole time! Preparing you to be permanently possessed! Such a healthy young body – Voldemort will not be able to pass you up as a host for him! "Tom" is merely his first attempt to get you to join him, don't trust – AHHH!!!_ The spirit of Voldemort gave its last cry of pain as Harry slashed the cup, rending it down the middle as he'd done with the Diadem. This seed of doubt he planted hit Harry a little too close to home, however, and he was careful to keep his thoughts from Tom.

_What if it's right? What if Tom really is just making it easier for Voldemort to eventually permanently possess me? I know now just how possible that is, if Voldemort ever wanted to abandon the body he had made. But it would be ever taxing on him unless I was willing…and I am getting more and more memories from Tom now. Making me more like him…like Voldemort?_ This was a truly troubling line of thoughts. Was Tom really reformed? Harry's closest friend, who knew his every secret…could he have been playing Harry all along? Fawkes must have noticed Harry's melancholy, for he began trilling and flew over to Harry's shoulder.

"There, Harry, all finished for tonight. Let us remove these artifacts to my office and we shall bid each other a good night, it has certainly been a lengthy one." Dumbledore looked exhausted after his marginal use of magic, and so Harry carried both former Horcruxes and the Sword of Gryffindor back to the Headmaster's office.

"Professor, before I leave, may I access your private library? I have much to learn if I am to defeat Voldemort, after all..." Harry said carefully. Dumbledore seemed hesitant.

"I suppose a book or two could be borrowed before our next meeting...I will warn you, though, Harry, that several of the books are quite advanced. Likely beyond your level." Harry nodded and grinned. Little did Professor Dumbledore know Harry's true level, after all, so Harry browsed the books while Dumbledore retired to his adjoining bedchamber.

A few ancient books on wards - looked to be originals, and one expressly on blood wards! - were carted off by Harry for a little light reading, as Hermione would say. An untitled book with a rich, black leather cover also piqued his interest. Harry dove into the tome, and on the first page was an interesting dedication.

_To Albus, in honor of all the work we've done and time we've spent together. I'll always remember you._

_Love, _

_Gellert_

_What do you make of that, Tom?_ Harry's companion, however, had no insights. Harry decided to take the book after leafing through it to find quite astonishingly powerful dueling spells, though it was obviously quite personal for the Headmaster. His new treasures in hand, he returned to the common room, conveniently too late for Professor Slughorn's party this time.

"Oh, you owe me, Harry." Katie said the next morning at breakfast. Harry smiled and gave her a peck on the lips, an action which caused the entirety of the upper year Gryffindors to stop what they were doing and stare.

"Oh yes? And how was the good Professor's little get-together, Katiekins?" This immediately caused an eruption of whispers, especially from voices that sounded like Parvati and Lavender.

"Pet names? She moves quick, the –"

"Ugh, can't believe she managed to hook _him_! I mean, what does he see –"

"Not even all that pretty, really…never spends any time on makeup –"

"Don't call me that…Harry-wary…Harry-dary? What's a good rhyme with Harry?" She turned to Hermione and asked as she failed to come up with a suitable nickname. Harry grinned wickedly as Hermione and Ron postulated.

"Well, Won-Won and My-My are, I think, excellent nicknames. And really, Katiekins, you need to work on your nicknaming abilities. I mean, even Bellatrix Lestrange came up with a better one with 'ickle baby Potter'. So, by all means, keep on trying!" They continued with nicknames all throughout breakfast – "Harrikins" was a rather unoriginal attempt by Katie and "Har-Har" equally pathetic thrust by Ron – before heading off to class, the trio starting with Transfiguration.

"So what all did Dumbledore and you discuss yesterday, Harry?" Hermione said in a fervent whisper as they sat down in McGonagall's classroom, pulling out wands, books, and finished essays.

"We did a lot, Hermione. I'll have to catch you guys up later." Harry said as McGonagall entered and cleared her throat.

"I was quite displeased by several of your most recent essays preparing for human transfiguration. Who can tell me why such transfiguration is distinct from both a Metamorphmagus' powers and an Animagi's?" Hermione's hand shot into the air, of course, and was joined by a smattering of Ravenclaw's and Harry's own.

"Mr. Potter, I shall be most interested to hear your take on this subject." She said, motioning to him. Hermione, too, seemed interested. Lately she'd been taking notes on his casual commentary in various classes.

_Perhaps she'll publish, "The Magic Bible of Harry Potter"…_ Tom thought with a grin.

"Well, the primary difference between transfiguring a human into an animal and an animagus transformation is the ability to keep your own mind and sensibilities. Even the most strong-willed wizard won't be able to resist the animal's instincts in a transfiguration, but with an animagus, the animal's instincts and your own sort of combine, so you can control what you do while still relying on the animal's reactions if needed. And as for a Metamorphmagus vs. slight alterations…well, a Metamorphmagus doesn't need a wand. Though I suppose sufficiently powerful wandless transfigurations would be rather indistinguishable." Harry said with a grin. Of course, subtleties like human transfiguration were certainly beyond his own capabilities with wandless magic – he could barely cast shields, which required almost no finesse. Besides, he had his altered Metamorph Medal anyway; Lord Voldemort, however, could probably manage it with a bit of practice.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. And quite right on all cases, well said, and five points to Gryffindor. Of course, wandless magic at such a level is totally impossible for subtle tasks like that, even for a particularly powerful infant using accidental magic, it would be almost unheard of for human transfiguration to occur. Moving on, the practical topic for the day will be a rather more difficult conjuration than you previously accomplished…" And so they started conjuring an entire roll of parchment, as opposed to the scrap they previously accomplished. Harry had no problem, but it seemed like the difficulty did increase notably for his classmates.

"Mr. Potter, follow me to my office, please." Professor McGonagall said, interrupting his advice to Ron. He did so with a grin, but McGonagall was neither smiling nor smirking. Indeed, she had a rather stern look on her face as she shut the door and locked it.

"Well, show me your form, Potter." She said as she crossed her arms across her chest. Harry was fairly certain she'd gone crazy.

"Pardon, Professor? I'm not sure I understand…"

"Show. Me. Your. Form. I should have expected this from you, Potter. And it certainly explains your sudden proficiency with the subject – Merlin knows your father was the same. So show it to me." She repeated. Harry still didn't understand.

"I still don't know what you mean, ma'am."

"Your animagus form, Potter. The answer you gave me was not from a textbook – it demonstrated understanding and comprehension. You know what it feels like to be an Animagus. And there is only one way that is possible. So, your form. Is it a bird? I rather suspected a raptor of some sort, the way you dive. Falcon or eagle, if I'd had to guess." She seemed somewhat excited, "Not that I'm condoning it, of course, but what's done is done."

"I don't have an Animagus form, Professor." Harry said. It was true, though Tom did. It was a snake, predictably. Large, venomous, and powerful. It may be why he liked Nagini so much…

_I'm rather certain that Voldemort does NOT mate with Nagini, Harry! We were, at one point, the same person, you know!_ Harry grinned at Tom's outrage.

_Well, snakey as he looks now, I don't think a woman would go at him…_

"Potter, I myself am an Animagus, so I know the feeling you described all too well." Harry was rather stuck now…maybe his experience with wandless magic would help him, since that was a large part of the process and the reason it took so long.

"Well, Professor…I have been doing a bit of studying up on the topic. But I haven't found my form yet, I've just been doing wandless practice." Harry fibbed. Hopefully she wouldn't ask to see his progress.

"Becoming an Animagus with only the advice of his friends and a few books was one of the stupider things your father ever did, Harry. If he had only come to me, I would have been more than happy to aid him." _What? Was McGonagall offering to help me?_ Not that Harry really needed it, he just had other things that seemed more important taking up his time.

"Now, show me your exercises. Alter your hand." _Crap._ Harry focused on his magic – which was more than ample for the task – and willed his hand to change. The reason an Animagus transformation could be done wandlessly while Metamorphmagus-esque transformations could not really had to do with the presence of the animal already being present inside of the wizard. Unfortunately, Harry did not really want to be a snake, so he had no idea what to do with his hand – shrink it, elongate it into a wing? His hand somehow knew what to do, though, and began to change.

The black hair on his wrist and the back of his hand seemed to grow slightly as his hand balled up into a fist and rearranged itself. It seemed like his hand would shrink…what could his form be? A stag like his father? A dog like Sirius? Or would his entire arm shrink into a snake like Tom? In shock with how quickly the change happened, much quicker than Tom's first time, he changed it back almost reflexively. McGonagall grabbed his hand and inspected it critically.

"Excellent work, Harry. And with such speed, too, you seem to be quite well along. Particularly on reversing the transformation – that's often more difficult if you don't keep a firm image of yourself in mind." Occlumency made that part of it much easier, at it did much of the subject of transfiguration. A mind cluttered with other images can't very well focus on what it's supposed to look like.

"Now, you are doing your meditations frequently?" At his nod, another lie, she continued, "then your form will come to you in time. Let me know if you have any problems with it." She handed him a note, and he flashed her another one of his James/Tom grins and left her office just in time for class to end.

"Harry, what did Professor McGonagall need? Was it something for the Headmaster? Oh! I wish I didn't have to hurry off to Arithmancy…you're telling me all about it later!" She said as she ran off across the castle. Harry and Ron continued at a slower pace up to the common room.

"So do I get to hear all about your night first, or do I have to wait? By the way, Harry, you really missed a GREAT Slug Club meeting – Gwenog Jones was there! You know, captain of the Holyhead Harpies? Oh, she's brilliant. Ginny and Katie were both all over her the whole evening, and she offered Katie a tryout! Can you believe? Ginny was really jealous, I could tell, who wouldn't be? Geez, an all-witch team…I'd like to watch their practices, if you know what I mean!" Harry laughed appropriately as Ron went on to explain how Gwenog kept her audience captivated the entire night with tales of her various Beater exploits around the pitch. Ron took particular notice, of course, at how her tactics interfered with the other team's Keeper, and vowed to get the Gryffindor Beaters to do similar things.

"You should have been there, Harry, she really wanted to meet you! And since Katie, Ginny, and I were all there and she liked us, she wants to come to our first game! Gosh, d'you think she'll bring the scouts to check Katie out? How cool! But what if they're checking _all_ of us out!?" Ron grew a tad more uncomfortable with this thought.

"Hey, who's been checking you two out?" Katie asked with a laugh. Ron and Harry filled her in, and she took up where Ron left off with details of Gwenog.

"Yeah, they're actually looking for a Chaser for next season – one of their starters is retiring, so they'll need a new reserve player. Gosh, it'd be wicked to play for them, of course. But tell us about your night, and why, exactly, we had to entertain Ms. Jones all night." Harry pulled them in close and muttered "_Muffliato_", a spell from Snape's _Half-Blood Prince_ book for privacy.

"We got two Horcruxes." Ron gasped and Katie looked very interested.

"They were hidden here in the castle, Room of Requirements. I destroyed them with Gryffindor's sword. Weirdest thing ever – those little pieces of Voldemort's soul try to turn you against your allies and everything. So we go them and they're gone. Only a few more left." _Including me._

"_Wicked_, Harry! Really! Will you take me along next time? I want to kill the next one!" Ron said, seeming excited. Of course, little did he know he was sitting right next to what would likely be the last Horcrux destroyed.

"I don't know, Ron, it's really up to Dumbledore. We talked a lot about Riddle, too, but the Horcrux thing was the biggie. Oh, and McGonagall thought I was an Animagus because I answered the question in class today." Ron's eyes bugged out, and Katie's lit up too.

"No way! You didn't tell me! How could you keep something like this from me?" Ron said somewhat excited and only slightly accusingly.

"Well, I haven't started, not yet. But she offered to help me. And she gave me this." Harry showed Ron the note:

_Harry Potter has my permission to access the Restricted Section for any Transfiguration text until the end of term._

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

"Wow, Harry, that's great! Think of all the stuff that must be there…reckon we could learn to change Malfoy to a ferret ourselves?" Ron asked excitedly.

"Probably wouldn't even be in the Restricted Section. But I'm pretty interested in the more powerful large-scale transfigurations; change the ground to quicksand or lava and all that…big animations, too…" Though Harry was certain that there was little that the library could teach a venerable Transfiguration Master like Tom, Harry was not quite so well-versed in the subject, despite massive advances.

"But Animagi, that'd be pretty useful, Harry. What does it take to do it?" Katie finally cut off Ron's rambles of animating Malfoy's wand and where it'd stick him with the topic of Animagi.

"Well, the hardest part is the requisite advanced wandless magic. It'll take a lot of practice for enough magical power to actually complete the whole transformation. And there's some meditation to find your form." Ron soberly shook his head at Harry's announcement.

"Well bollocks…how do we get started, then?" Katie seemed to agree, so Harry smiled and told them to meet him at the training room after class. It was time to show them a bit of his wandless magic exercises, which he'd been keeping secret from everyone.

Heading off to Potions, Defense, and Charms occupied the rest of his day, but walking out afterward, a small second-year he didn't recognize ran up to him and delivered a scroll with familiar green writing on it.

_Harry,_

_You have been requested by some guests to report to my office immediately. I believe that you know the password._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Curious, Harry promised Ron and Hermione that he'd meet them in the training room – Hermione rolled her eyes – and made his way to Dumbledore's office. He found, to his surprise, Percy Weasley and Rufus Scrimgeour awaiting him, along with a man he didn't know. _Just what is this about?_

"Mr. Potter. Nice to finally meet you. I'm Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, this is Percy Weasley, a secretary, and this is Pius Thicknesse, Head of the DMLE." Scrimgeour shook his hand, as did Thicknesse; Percy merely nodded at Harry. Dumbledore seemed not to be very amused with the proceedings already.

"Minister. I've heard that you were a fine Head Auror, congratulations on your promotion." Rufus nodded once. Apparently he wasn't one for politics like Fudge. Tom's memories of Scrimgeour as Moody's partner early in the first war rose, and Harry guessed that he hadn't changed all that much from that time.

"Let's get down to business, Mr. Potter. We have evidence that you were at several of your classmates houses; we've interrogated the Death Eaters captured there and they confirm it. The problem with this whole thing is that you are an underage wizard, not allowed to do magic outside of school. Why didn't we pick up your magic use?"

_Blackmail on the Boy-Who-Lived…he obviously wants something…or he hates me like Fudge; after all, I haven't heard of Umbridge's arrest/execution yet._

"I'm not certain, Minister. Are you sure that the equipment is functional? Perhaps, since I was expected to have been in school, it was just not closely monitored." Harry began carefully.

"Oh, I'm quite certain the monitor is working, and I'm quite certain that Mr. Weasley here checked the readouts personally. Moving on, just how did you manage to end up at such varied locations so quickly, Mr. Potter? The Floo network was not even hooked up at several of the apartments. One might suspect you of illegal Apparition." Dumbledore seemed to be carefully concealing his emotions behind Occlumency for the duration of this meeting, but Harry was quite sure that the old man was getting worried. _Is Scrimgeour going to haul me off to Azkaban or what?_ Harry was trying to find the motivation; what was he going to ask Harry to do in place of punishment? He glanced at both Scrimgeour, who had the smirk of a man who held all the cards, and Thicknesse, who seemed quite bored and glossy-eyed. _He'll likely want your support for the Ministry; after all, you're a celebrity._ Harry was forced to agree with Tom.

"I suppose some people might suspect quite a few things, Minister. After all, last year the Ministry itself believed me to be dangerously violent and delusional." Harry said.

"Too true, and I apologize for that slander, Mr. Potter. As Head Auror, I always believed what you and Professor Dumbledore were saying, and worked hard on limited budget to prepare my Aurors. As Minister, I'm in position to increase funds and begin training a large new batch of Aurors, something which hasn't happened in nearly seven years. However, quite a bit of damage was done to the Ministry's reputation when you were proved right; years of setbacks with the people's trust. Seems like no matter what we do, it's never enough and people are dissatisfied and scared." Scrimgeour's speech was expected and nothing new for Harry; of course, he thought that people were upset because the Ministry was ineffective, but what have you. Thicknesse, too, still seemed uninterested and had the same glossy look in his eye. As Harry looked closer, it seemed somewhat cloudy, too…almost like Katie had in Hogsmeade.

"Well, Minister, I'd say there's good reason for the people to be scared. After all, if the Head of the DMLE can be put under the Imperius Curse, what's stopping the Death Eaters from doing the same to the Minister for Magic?" Harry responded quietly. Rufus looked bewildered.

"What are you talking about? I can resist the Imperius Curse, I was Head Auror! And what about the Head…WHAT!?" Rufus jumped as realization hit him. Of course, it had hit the Imperiused Head of the DMLE at the same moment. He tried to draw his wand, but unfortunately both Harry and Dumbledore were much quicker with their wands, and stunned him. Rufus appeared to be angry and frustrated, red-faced.

"Damn Death Eater bastards! Merlin's balls! The Head of the DMLE!" Harry shared a smirk with Dumbledore – it appeared that the Minister was no longer the one in control.

"You know, Minister, I think that you might want to screen applicants for his replacement for those who can resist the Imperius Curse. In fact, I'd do it for all of your Heads. You might even want to provide some training or something; after all, a Death Eater taught my 4th year Defense class to fight it off, even if some weren't successful." _Some_ might have been an exaggeration, as only Harry could actually totally throw off the curse; everyone, however, could resist it better than Thicknesse had.

"Damn good point, boy. Weasley, look into my eyes!" Percy seemed to jump to attention when addressed, and stared clear-eyed into his Minister's eyes. He seemed so eager to prove himself that Harry wondered if he'd move forward and kiss the Minister. He found the idea quite amusing and had to stifle a chuckle.

"Fine, fine. Thank you, Potter…now, as I was saying. You're the bloody Chosen One in all the papers, the public loves you. The Ministry needs your help – if you approve of the job the Ministry's doing, then so will the public. We need solidarity in leadership, Potter – we work together against our enemies, and we're unstoppable. So what do you say?" Harry smirked – Tom's political senses were as keen as ever.

"Well, Minister, I'd hate to lie to the public. I don't have faith in the job the Ministry's been doing – for example, bringing in a high ranked individual under the Imperius to Hogwarts. But I think that if you do a few things as a sign that you're working to change, then we can work something out." Scrimgeour seemed interested.

"For instance, forgetting about your indiscretions?" He offered. Harry just smirked and let out a small laugh.

"Minister, I believe that without the Malfoy influence on the Ministry, I'm likely to get either no penalty or a fine for just about any action I might take. So I expect that to be sort of a given. In fact, my few requests are quite simple. First, Dolores Umbridge is fired at least, hopefully imprisoned. Second, question your prisoners – I know fairly certainly that Stan Shunpike, despite any boasts he may make, is not a Death Eater. Question any detainees under Veritaserum and deal with them appropriately. No holding innocent people without a trial – that's a mistake Crouch made that my own godfather paid rather dearly for." Harry began pleasantly.

"The public will think us totally incompetent if we do that!" Rufus interrupted.

"Or possibly they'll think you honest. And that, I think, is a better thing. Those pamphlets you put out were totally useless – use your Aurors to conduct training seminars or something! Allow the reporters to learn that you're training new Aurors for the first time in seven years; of course, hopefully Voldemort won't be around in three years, but there will certainly be cleanup, not to mention other Dark wizards. If we wage an active campaign, then Voldemort will unfortunately be forced to respond, but sitting back and waiting for him to take over is not something I, at least, am willing to do." Harry finished fervently. Percy seemed to be quite scared at this last proclamation, while Scrimgeour seemed to have a fire ignited within him.

"You're right, Potter! Weasley, did you get notes on what he said? Some damn fine ideas there, I'll be sure to implement them. Potter, I'll let you know when we get done, and you'll say something?" Rufus asked eagerly.

"I'll keep a close eye on the news, Minister. We'll see how it goes." Harry agreed.

"Excellent, Potter. And you, Professor?" Scrimgeour said, turning to Dumbledore. Apparently Harry's approval wasn't the only that he was seeking.

"I believe that Harry has voiced some excellent ideas. If I find them executed by you appropriately, then perhaps I will voice my approval. By the way, Minister, I believe that a Seminar over Winter break taught by Mister Potter in Hogwarts' Great Hall and assisted by some of your Aurors might be a very popular way to begin his training idea." Dumbledore said with a smirk to Harry.

_Of course, throw the ball back to me. Well, it might be the first good use of my popularity…_Harry actually thought this a good idea, and the D.A. could serve as teaching assistants.

"Perhaps that might work, sir. The D.A. from last year could serve as teaching assistants…give the public a chance to see what can be done with a little work."

"Excellent idea, Professor! Glad to have your tentative approval! Weasley, start the advertising campaign. Also, we're going to start screening the entire Ministry for Imperius Curse victims. You get Thicknesse to Mungo's first. And organize a meeting with Robards…he'll be corresponding with Potter about the Auror training, as Potter apparently has experience. Potter, Dumbledore, fine to meet with you. I'm glad this worked out so well. Harry, thank you for discovering my man under the Imperius Curse, I can't believe that happened, but I assure you I'll work to see it doesn't repeat." Scrimgeour stepped through the fire and Percy started to drag Thicknesse to the grate. Harry called out before he left.

"Oh, and Percy, do try to stop in to see your mum, at least, at the Burrow. Family is too valuable to stay separate in these dangerous times." Percy gave a sharp nod and smiled tentatively at Harry, which was returned. Alone with Professor Dumbledore and Fawkes, who flew over to Harry's shoulder and gave a chirp of approval and received a pet, Harry spoke to Dumbledore.

"Well, Professor, I certainly wasn't expecting that outcome from my little excursion." He said cheekily.

"Nor did I, Harry, but try not to think that every such rule violation will have a good result. Have an enjoyable day, Harry." Harry, however, had a question raised by the book he'd taken earlier from Dumbledore's office. He'd spent much of the night reading it, his Tom-enhanced memory absorbing every esoteric and Dark spell it contained; some of them even new or novel. The only Gellert he knew of who would know such magic raised interesting questions as to why Dumbledore possessed it.

"Before I go, Professor, I had a question from a book I read yesterday in your office. Who did you know closely by the name of Gellert?" Dumbledore's face seemed to grow paler for just a moment before he must have forced the emotions from himself with Occlumency.

"A man who most now recognize as the Dark Lord Grindelwald, Harry. But once upon a time, he was just a clever boy I met." Harry nodded, accepting this as a partial truth, and exited with a smile to his Headmaster.

_Well that was eventful…now, I believe that its time I Banish Ron across the room without my wand!_ Harry thought somewhat morbidly gleefully.


	10. Politics, Azkaban, and Quidditch

**A/N:** Thanks to all of the reviewers, I appreciate any commentary/questions/criticisms. I know a lot of criticism is going to be answered in this chapter, and more conflict of all kinds will begin to grow in ensuing chapters.

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Ten: Politics, Azkaban, and Quidditch

_**Terror In the Ministry! High Ranking Officials Cursed!**_

_By Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent_

_Panic swept through the Ministry yesterday when it was discovered by the Minister and his secretary Percival Weasley that none other than the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Pius Thicknesse was under the effects of the Imperius Curse. Thicknesse has been moved to St. Mungo's, where Healers were unwilling to comment on his recovery. The Minister responded to allegations of gross corruption and loss of control yesterday in a press conference._

_"Such an event happening is unfortunate, of course, but we're going to take steps to prevent it from happening again. The Department Heads must be able to resist that curse, and so some high-level changes are going to occur. We'll root out the influences of You-Know-Who down to the last paper pusher!" Minister Scrimgeour commented in a hastily prepared press conference. Such statements, however, did little to quell the doubts plaguing the populace._

_"Who's next, if the DMLE's under You-Know-Who's control?" Asked concerned citizen Doris Crockford in an impromptu interview in Diagon Alley soon after the news broke. "Why, I'm scared for me life! Been thinking about moving to my sister's in France and all..." Indeed, many may choose to flee from the incompetent government and frightfully powerful Dark Lord threatening our island. It seems that with the Ministry so obviously under corruption, even a former Auror as Minister can do little against You-Know-Who's forces._

_**Shake-Ups Begin! Senior Undersecretary Removed and Arrested!**_

_By Penelope Clearwater, Ministry Correspondent_

_In the first of several promised changes to the upper echelons of the Ministry, Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge was removed from her position and arrested yesterday evening in her office. The DMLE officials cite illegal punishments used against students as the basis for her arrest, as well as gross incompetence and negligence leading to her removal. Madam Umbridge did not go quietly, and indeed most of the Ministry heard her shrieks of outrage as she resisted the arresting officials. After an assault on DMLE officials, which will only add to her charges, she was forcibly stunned as pictured above._

_Percy Weasley, a young man that the current Minister has relied on in a crucial personal secretary position, will temporarily be appointed to the departing Umbridge's position. The Minister had only glowing words to say about Weasley._

_"[Weasley's a fine young man, and has proven himself personally to me. He does good work and is dedicated. When he found out about Thicknesse's Imperius curse, he was one of the first to undergo training at the hands of top Aurors to learn to resist the curse, and that's the kind of initiative we need here at the Ministry in these dire times!" Minister Scrimgeour said with a glowing Weasley by his side._

_Indeed, many of the Ministry's top leaders have taken Weasley's lead, and the Aurors have certainly had their hands full. Another surprising promotion for the Weasley family occurred when patron Arthur Weasley proved to be most resistant to the Imperius Curse during that training, which he owed to "family stubbornness". Weasley has been a dedicated DMLE employee for decades in various offices, and is a favored candidate to replace Thicknesse as Head in a soon-to-be-announced appointment._

_**Public Defense Training!**_

_In these times of danger, your Ministry, in coalition with Albus Dumbledore of Hogwarts school and Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, will be providing basic defensive training. The first seminar will occur on December 17 at Hogwarts school, and will be led by none other than Harry Potter himself, supervised by the Ministry's top Aurors and Hit-Wizards. Subsequent seminars led by Aurors and Hit-Wizards, along with reputedly the Minister himself, former Head Auror, will be scheduled throughout the year._

_Brought to you by The Ministry of Magic and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement: Keeping you safe in troubled times._

Harry scanned the myriad articles that littered the _Prophet_ along with the rest of Hogwarts the following week. _Well, at least Scrimgeour delivered on his promises. I guess that Percy can get things done when he's half a mind._ Ron was quite pleased to hear about his father doing so well at work, and Professor Slughorn took a renewed interest in both he and Ginny, who hadn't been invited back to a Slug Club meeting since the first.

Members of the D.A., particularly the pompous Ernie MacMillan and Justin Finch-Fletchley, were overjoyed to hear that they, too, would help take part in the public training seminar, and Ernie volunteered to make certain that all of his parents' associates - they were an old Pureblood family - would be present in a show of support. Harry had no doubts that it was all he spoke of in his owls home. It was upon the day of the announcement of Umbridge's arrest that Hermione gave Harry news that, while he couldn't let anyone know, would certainly bode ill.

"Harry! Do you recognize that locket?" She declared, shoving the morning's paper in his face. He took a glance at the picture of Umbridge being stunned, trying not to smirk, when he saw the locket she was talking of. Flying around wildly as she wrestled with her captors, it was a locket of heavy gold embossed with a "S" that caused the blood to drain from Harry's face. Dolores Umbridge had the locket. Umbridge had a Horcrux.

"It looks...familiar, Hermione, but I can't place it..." He said, ignoring the questioning stare on her face as to why he'd gone so pale.

"It was in Grimmauld Place last summer! Remember, we couldn't open it!" Indeed, Harry did remember, now that Hermione brought it up. And it made a terrible sort of sense to Harry, thanks to Tom's memory that flooded his mind.

_"Regulus, your family owns a house elf, do you not?" Harry said with a sneer and a bit of a smile. His trap was set; anyone would be foolish to attempt to go after this, his most precious Horcrux - the locket of his ancestor. Every bit of Dark arcane knowledge he'd spent so many years learning before beginning his reign of terror went into protections. He'd taken over forty of his Inferi and placed them protected in this cave, the others still hidden in Albania. Blood wards and spells keyed to his own soul - whatever remained of it, would keep intruders away. And a potion, the most horrible potion he'd ever sampled, within which the Horcrux would be placed. He almost shuddered as the memory of that potion arose. Locked within an ancient cave he'd found as a young orphan and the site of his first experiments on filthy Muggles, this potion existed. He'd found it, an unknown potion, and tested just a drop - not enough to do any real harm. But the pain, the memories, how they flooded him almost instantly. He'd almost craved death then, the first and only time. It was delightfully terrible, and he knew that it had to provide protection for his valuable little possession._

_"Kreacher!" Harry's recognition of the poor creature, who was now in a much more sane state than when Harry first met him, allowed him to separate his consciousness from Voldemort in the memory. Voldemort and Kreacher Apparated to the cave and Voldemort took him across in the boat._

_"Drink it, elf." Voldemort said cruelly, handing the elf goblet after goblet, despite Kreacher's howls of objection. By the time the bottom of the stone basin was visible through only a small puddle of the potion, Kreacher was shaking and tears rolled down his face. Voldemort reverently placed the locket within the small amount of liquid and then cast a standard refilling charm to replace the potion. He proceeded to inscribe the vessel with wards against emptying the chest in any form besides using the appropriate goblet. Voldemort then glanced at the shaking elf, tears rolling down the pitiful creature's face, and he started laughing, his horrible, high-pitched laugh. Leaving the miserable thing on the island, Voldemort sailed back to the edge of the cavern near the cave, still laughing as he thought of the stupid little elf joining his powerful Inferi in the black lake._

Tom congratulated Regulus' cleverness. _He must have found out about Horcruxes and turned on Voldemort. He got the information out of Kreacher and likely died on the run._ Harry quickly rose from the breakfast table and veritably flew to the training room. He'd summoned Kreacher and begun interrogating the elf before Hermione, Ron, and Katie joined him.

"And you kept the locket all these years?" Harry demanded. Kreacher was nearly shaking in fear, almost eager to receive a punishment from his Dark and evil Master.

"Oh yes, Master. Until evil stinky Dungis stoles it! Kreacher hateses him! Should Kreacher torture evil Dungis?" Kreacher grinned sadistically, a malicious glint in his eye.

"No, Kreacher, I'll take care of Mundungus." Kreacher was ecstatic and looked about ready to ask if he could watch. "That is all, Kreacher, you may return to Grimmauld Place." Kreacher bowed deeply and disappeared with a sharp 'CRACK'.

"What is going on, Harry, what's got you so upset?" Katie asked gently, laying a hand on his shoulder. He closed his eyes to relax with a quick bit of Occlumency before answering.

"That locket, which was in the possession of Dolores Umbridge, was one of the missing Horcruxes of Voldemort. It was taken by Sirius' brother before he defected, and Kreacher kept it hidden at Grimmauld Place all these years. But since that picture was taken, I imagine Voldemort's about to get it back. And since Umbridge will be in Azkaban, I rather think that he'll be reunited with a few of his followers that were imprisoned at the Ministry." Harry said to growing looks of horror on his friends' faces.

"Oh no! We've got to warn Professor Dumbledore!" Hermione said quickly. Harry nodded in agreement, though he was sure that there was little the man could do even with every Auror at the Minister's disposal.

"You all head to class, I'll -"

"Not this time, Harry. We're coming with you." Katie interrupted.

"Yeah, mate, it's about time we joined you on some of your adventures this year!" Ron added. Hermione looked quite torn, but didn't object and followed them to the Headmaster's office - breakfast had just ended.

"Blood Pops." Harry said to the gargoyle, who jumped aside. The four friends strode up to the door, which opened to reveal a smiling Headmaster.

"Why hello, Harry. Mr. Weasley, Ms. Granger, Ms. Bell, surely you haven't all been thrown out of class already?" He asked with twinkling eyes and a smile.

"No, Professor," Harry said after accepting an offered Lemon Drop, "The picture of Umbridge in today's _Prophet_ showed Slytherin's Locket. Umbridge had a Horcrux." The room grew darker as Dumbledore grabbed a paper and scanned it.

"You're right, Harry! Excellent observation!" He said with a bit of a smile after he saw it.

"Unfortunately, sir, I would bet that Voldemort now knows about the locket too. And he's probably headed to Azkaban." Dumbledore immediately grew somber and shook his head.

"Alright, Harry, thank you for this information. I'll let Rufus know, and we'll deal with it." Dumbledore said vaguely. Harry nodded and turned to leave, but his friends did not do the same.

"Well what are you going to do, sir? Are you going to head there to duel Voldemort yourself? You're the only one who can possibly stop the attack, after all." Harry turned to look at Dumbledore at Hermione's questions - the aged wizard was carefully concealing any reaction.

"I'm sure you'll hear all about it soon enough, Ms. Granger. Now head off to class, and let your teachers know that I have excused your tardiness." He said with finality. Hermione seemed unsatisfied, but turned around with the rest, following Harry out.

"Harry! Why did you just turn around like that? Don't you want to know what he's going to do? I would think he should alert the Order immediately and rush everyone off to Azkaban to help defend it. I know that's what _I'd_ do in his place. What do you think, Harry?" Harry's face dropped slightly as he considered it.

_Truthfully, I'd pull the Aurors and leave only the elderly and infirm guards who volunteered to die in the line of duty. Anyone on that island is going to be slain, likely brutally, at the hands of a furious Voldemort._ Harry thought. Somehow he didn't think Hermione would understand this drawback of leadership. Of course, a year ago he certainly wouldn't have. No wonder Dumbledore kept him out of the Order.

"If you did that, Hermione, then all you'd accomplish is the death of Order members." He responded quietly.

"What! What are you talking about? Dumbledore will just take care of Voldemort, and the Order members and Aurors should be more than a match for his Death Eaters." Ron put in abruptly and Hermione voiced her agreement.

"I think you're both forgetting about a certain curse on Dumbledore. Any use of his magic only accelerates the curse. If he were to duel Voldemort, he'd easily use too much magic and die quite painfully right there. And some members of the Order can fight Death Eaters well, but who's going to duel Bellatrix? Tonks and Kingsley both can't, as the Ministry battle proved; maybe Mad-Eye. And then locked up is Dolohov, Malfoy, the Lestrange brothers: all of them talented duelists. And Kingsley is one of the top duelist Aurors, I'd wager, so don't rely on them too much - they're primarily investigators, anyway.

"Anyone on that island is going to be killed, so if you want my opinion, evacuate the Aurors and ask for volunteers, preferably the older and less able the better, to stay there and die. That way losses are minimized." Ron and Hermione both looked rather incredulous at Harry, and even Katie didn't seem supportive.

"You'd just run away? Bloody hell, Harry, you're the one who always says his name and says we shouldn't fear him, and now you'd avoid a battle? Set a bloody trap for him, coward! Honestly, what happened to your Gryffindor courage and all that?" Ron said spitefully as he pulled away with Hermione, who looked equally disappointed.

_They don't understand...Dumbledore can't fight him, I know I'd be slaughtered if I tried...it's foolish to set up a confrontation when he'll be attacking with everything he can muster like he will._ Harry said. Tom agreed that now was no time to fight Voldemort and his forces.

"Harry, you can't just run away and let Voldemort take what he wants. We should fight him at every corner. Anyway, I'll see you later, I'm off to Potions." She said with a short kiss goodbye on his cheek. At least she wasn't mad at him.

_If we fight him at every corner now, we'll just die at every corner..._Harry thought apocalyptically before following Ron and Hermione to Defense. There were no seats nearby his friends, who were shooting him looks anyways, so Harry sat next to Neville.

"Hey Harry, how's it going?" The shy boy asked with a smile.

"Pretty rough, actually, Neville. How about you?" Harry said, pathetically attempting to return the smile.

"Not bad. Haven't seen you around the common room much, Harry, are you in the Room of Requirement a lot? I notice its locked pretty frequently..." How Neville knew that Harry didn't want to wonder - was he trying to practice or looking for a snogging closet?

"Oh, no, actually -"

"Potter! My class is no place to socialize. Five points from Gryffindor!" Snape said hastily as he swept into the room, cloak billowing behind him.

"Your latest essays were pathetic; I expect any of you who ever _meet_ an Inferius to fail even to recognize it." He said as he planted essays on various students' desks. Harry, expecting an 'Average' or worse for an obviously 'Outstanding' paper was surprised to see "My office, now!" written in bold red ink - strangely reminiscent of the Half-Blood Prince's writing, Harry thought with a grin - across the top of his parchment. Finished returning the essays, Snape dragged forward several mannequins to the front of the room.

"Practice your incendiary spells on these dummies, in preparation for an actual Inferius confrontation." He said as Harry entered his office. Snape soon followed and put up a silencing charm - likely _Muffliato_. Before Harry could block the Professor, Snape had grabbed his robes and roughly shoved him against the door. _What the hell is the bastard doing?!_

"Did you think I wouldn't notice? When did they get you, 'Potter'?" Snape snarled angrily.

"Professor, I have no idea what you're talking about. Let me down." Harry tried to stay calm, but it was quite difficult. Just what was Snape doing?

"I should have recognized it long before, but that essay gave it away!" Snape said, a mad glint in his eye and a savage look on his face. "And I know that the Dark Lord knows nothing about the boy's replacement, so tell me who you are!"

_Snape thinks I'm someone else? What the bloody hell did I write in that essay!?_ Harry thought back…he hadn't really been paying much attention, because Ron and Hermione were distracting him, or something…was Katie snogging him? Bloody hell, he'd mentioned how to shatter the enchantments animating Inferi, and mentioned the method of their creation! That was incredibly rare Dark knowledge that certainly didn't belong in a sixth year Defense essay!_ Bugger…_Harry was silent too long, apparently, for Snape backhanded him across the face hard enough to make him see stars.

"GET OFF ME!" He said angrily, lashing out with a powerful wandless Banishing charm that sent Snape flying across the room. _Well, that was a good idea…_Tom commented wryly, as Harry was forced to draw his wand to block Snape's curse.

"Who are you!? I will find out, whether you live or die!" Snape said angrily, sending off a few silent curses – including _Sectumsempra_, Harry noticed. _The Prince shows himself_…

"I'm Harry Potter! You're bloody loony!" Snape's third bludgeoning hex hit Harry like a sledgehammer, throwing him up against door roughly. He leapt to the side to avoid Snape's follow-up curse and tossed a few spells of his own, ignoring his broken ribs.

"_Reducto!"_ _Telum Conicio! Confringo!_ He threw the three spells out almost simultaneously, and Snape was hit hard with the Blasting curse after the railroad spike rendered his shield useless. Several objects in his office, including the door to the classroom he'd thrown Harry into, were blown apart in the ensuing explosion. Snape was able to shield himself from most of the blast, but the smell of singed flesh was still in the air as he threw more curses at Harry; he recognized a Bone-Shattering curse and a Dark Compression curse that likely would have caused every blood vessel in the effected area to burst. He hit Snape's desk with a rather clever series of Transfigurations and it began attacking Snape. Of course, a massive set of jaws, frying-pan sized paws with three inch claws, and the demeanor of a starved tigress added to the ferocity of the desk.

With Snape distracted underneath the desk, Harry, with a featherweight charm, leapt over Snape and the desk through the door; he hit the classroom floor in a roll just as he heard the transfigured desk explode. He stayed low, causing Snape's next curse to fly over him. He spun around close to the ground and shot off another spell chain.

_Pingo Verde!_ He started with a simple paintball charm that, in green, looked oddly similar to a Killing Curse. _Conjuctivitus! Levicorpus! Flipendo!_ Snape was flung bodily and got hit in the eye with Harry's Conjunctivitus curse, but evaded the _Levicorpus_.

_No Snape underwear today..._Harry thought wryly. Snape, still on the floor, silently flung with a snarl what many may have believed to be a simple Stunning spell, but Harry recognized the blood red of the Cruciatus!

_Let's turn up the heat, then! Sectumsempra!_ Snape's eyes widened as he recognized his own curse, but he was still in a heap on the floor from Harry's flinging hex, and so the curse hit him at a bit of an angle across his belly.

The Dark curse hit Snape and slashed him viciously in front of a silent class. As the curse split the teacher open and blood and intestines spewed out, the students were horror stricken; Harry Potter had just attacked Professor Snape after all he did was try to stun his student! Draco Malfoy was the first to take up the call against Harry before running out of the room, likely to fetch a professor.

"_Murderer!_" He cried with obviously false horror; Harry's tight rein on his Occlumency allowed the boy's usually shrouded thoughts to at least give him that insight.

"_Integropercuro, Integropercuro, Integro…percuro!_" Snape said in a whisper before passing out. The repeated countercurse – at least now Harry knew the incantation – seemed to stop the worst of the curse's effects and it even closed slightly; Snape's bowels were no longer visible and his blood no longer leaking, but merely oozing slightly from the wound.

"Harry! How could you?" Hermione said accusingly in an astonished tone. Harry ignored his friend as Ron went up to Snape and started to cast a few diagnostic charms – he'd become as proficient as Harry at healing spells, since he had to cast them on himself so frequently after Harry's "training". None of the other students had moved when Professor Slughorn came in, red-faced and panting from obvious exertion. Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey came in right afterwards, Madam Pomfrey running up to Snape and pushing Ron out of the way.

"Mister Potter, please hand me your wand." Professor McGonagall said, carefully approaching Harry. Harry easily flipped his wand around and handed it to her in a non-threatening manner.

"Burns, bruises, cuts, that horrid gash! Merlin, what happened?" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed. Harry was saved an explanation by the emergence of Professor Dumbledore, who looked around wildly at the still silent and frightened class.

"Harry, why don't we all head to the Hospital Wing and sort this out?" Professor Dumbledore said calmly. He seemed to be the only one calm, however. Hermione seemed to be in shock, but Ron seemed to retain at least some faith in his best friend and wasn't staring at Harry in horror. Professors McGonagall and Slughorn didn't seem to know what to think – what had Harry, one of their favorite students, done? Madam Pomfrey was too busy fretting over Snape's condition – she was still casting ineffective healing charms. Slughorn was dismissed with a slight, "That'll do, Horace" by Dumbledore, but McGonagall, Dumbledore, and Pomfrey seemed to be going to accompany Snape to the Hospital Wing.

"Sort it out?" Draco Malfoy cried in red-faced disbelief, "What's to bloody sort out? He nearly killed a professor, and I saw it with my own bloody eyes! So did the rest of these idiots! Chuck him out already!" Thankfully, most of the class had once been in the D.A. with Harry, and so the blonde found few willing to outright crucify their friend over a battle only the end of which was witnessed.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy, but I assure you both that I retain full use of my mental faculties and that it is my job as Headmaster, not yours as a student, to expel any student. Minerva, Poppy, Harry." They walked out of the room, Snape floating behind them unconscious. Harry was glad that the uncomfortable silence was broken when Snape was settled into a Hospital Wing bed.

"I'm going to assume, Harry, that you have a most remarkable explanation for your behavior." Dumbledore said seriously.

"Of course, sir. Professor Snape called me into his office and immediately grabbed my collar and shoved me against his door. He accused me of being someone else Polyjuiced as myself, and then backhanded me hard when I didn't tell him who I really was. He was rambling like a lunatic, sir, about how the Dark Lord didn't know or some thing." Harry was rather uncomfortable with just how close to the truth Snape was.

"Well, my magic didn't much like me being hit, so it kind of threw him across the room wandlessly. He attacked me back, broke a few ribs when he hit be with a bludgeoning curse that threw me against his door, and I retaliated as best I could. He was the first one to throw the _Sectumsempra_ curse, sir. And the last spell he threw, which didn't hit me, was the Cruciatus Curse. That's why I used the _Sectumsempra_. He cast a counterspell a few times before passing out…the incantation is _Integropercuro_, if that helps, Madam Pomfrey." Indeed, she still seemed to be having some difficulty with his wound, which showed no progress from the healing magics she'd tried.

"_Integropercuro!_ No effect, Mr. Potter." She said as she turned to continue digging for more potions that might be effective.

"I believe that perhaps Harry should attempt the counterspell." Dumbledore said. Harry was rather surprised that he'd be trusted with a wand so soon after nearly killing an occupant of the room, but accepted it when McGonagall offered.

"_Integropercuro! Integropercuro! Integropercuro!_" Harry called confidently, repeating the spell three times as Snape had. Indeed, it seemed to have a fine effect, closing it so that it was only an admittedly ugly looking scar that stretched from one side of Snape to the other.

"Fine work, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey said, inspecting it. After rubbing some dittany over the scar, she turned to Harry and his ribs joined together with only the slightest 'pop'.

"He's out of danger, Headmaster. Should I awaken him?" Dumbledore nodded at Madam Pomfrey's question and Snape's eyes opened, one of them still rather red and agitated from the effects of his reversed Conjunctivitus curse.

"Headmaster, that boy is an imposter!" Snape cried with a murderous look on his face after he realized where he was and who was around him.

"Severus, I'm certain that this is a misunderstanding. Please remain calm." Dumbledore said placatingly. Snape, however, would have none of it.

"It is not! The boy cannot possibly know things that he does! And no mere boy could defeat me in a duel! He has obviously been replaced and Polyjuiced, if not by a rogue Death Eater then perhaps a rising Dark Lord!" Snape declared frantically with a snarl.

"Professor Snape! Good heavens, I myself have spent as much or more time with the boy as you have, and I assure you that nothing suspicious has occurred!" Professor McGonagall defended.

"I, too, have spent much time with Harry. I believe that I would have noticed if he'd been behaving oddly. However, he has seemed to mature greatly and begin to take his studies more seriously. Remember also, Severus, the extensive training that Alastor, Nymphadora, and Remus all gave to Harry during the summer. I daresay that he has improved his dueling skills considerably, but he is the same boy we've always known. Now, I will ask you to refrain from attacking Harry again, and I believe, based on the injuries you sustained, that Madam Pomfrey would recommend similar action." As Dumbledore smirked slightly, a breathless Katie burst through the door to the Hospital Wing.

"Harry! What the bloody hell happened?! All of the sixth year is talking about how you and Snape killed each other in the middle of Defense class and were both carted off to St. Mungo's! I had to take a detention from Slughorn to get out of class to see you – he probably just wanted in himself, come to think. Are you alright?" She said after she hugged him briefly and held him at arm's length, looking for any potentially delayed effect curses that would cause him to drop.

"I believe that Harry has suffered no lasting detriment from the duel. However, despite your claim of self-defense, which I believe, I think that a detention with Professor McGonagall should be served this Friday evening for your…overenthusiastic cursing of a Professor. She can decide on further punishments at that time. Good day, everyone." Dumbledore said somewhat wearily as he exited.

"I'll see you in class, then, Mr. Potter. By the way, was that your transfiguration of the desk with fangs and claws?" He smirked roguishly and nodded.

"Your father enjoyed doing similar things with desks…five points to Gryffindor for an excellent Transfiguration." She said with a wink as she left. Snape's face reddened – the first sign of color Harry'd ever seen on the man.

"Potter, twenty points from Gryffindor for breathing too loudly!" He said angrily. Harry rolled his eyes and just walked out – he'd already cursed Snape to within an inch of his life once today, after all, and the excuse that it was cathartic could only be taken so far. He and Katie – her Potions class had ended, and he had a break before Charms – returned to the Gryffindor common room to find Ron sitting in their usual corner alone, Hermione likely off to some other class.

"Hey, Harry." He began awkwardly. Harry sighed and said, "Want to see it in Dumbledore's pensieve?" Ron nodded quickly, and Katie agreed. The three watched the encounter – from Snape telling Harry to go to his office to the teachers arriving – and Ron emerged outraged.

"What a bloody bastard! I'll go find him and curse him again, Harry! Honestly, he used the same spell on you a few times, you were just good enough to block or avoid them! Dirty no-good greasy git…he started the whole blasted thing!" Ron said angrily. Katie merely rubbed Harry's back comfortingly; her lingering fingertips almost made him want to toss Ron out of the room like he had Snape, albeit for different reasons.

"Yeah, I know. At least my detention is with McGonagall, and she was pretty supportive of me. Anyway, you got detention tonight, Katie? It was the only practice we had scheduled before the big game on Saturday." They were looking pretty good as a team, overall: Coote and Peakes were really coming along in terms of Beating, though they were no Fred and George, Ginny and Demelza Robbins matched well with Katie in Chasing. Ron would occasionally be brilliant, but the visiting Gwenog Jones along with the Holyhead Harpies recruiting scouts had made him very nervous last practice when Katie brought it up, and afterward his skills had diminished sharply.

"Sorry Harry, next time try not to have rumors of your death circulating enough that Slughorn has to run out when Draco runs in an informs him." He was forced to chuckle at this.

"Oh well, I guess Dean will have to fill in as reserve. Maybe you and Ron and I can hit the sky some time before the game, make sure you're in shape for all those recruiters, eh Katie?" She smiled and agreed, while Ron swallowed uncomfortably at their mention.

"Alright, I'm going to go look over some Charms notes before class, you two try not to kill any more Professors today." She said with a smile. Soon enough, Harry and Ron had to head off to Herbology, where Ron attempted to explain things to Hermione while she ignored Harry. She seemed to think that he'd done wrong somehow by retaliating against Snape, and that only a sincere apology to herself would be acceptable restitution.

_Maybe if Ron just pulled her into a broom closet every now and then…_Tom said. Harry had almost forgotten his earlier plan to hook his two friends up, but then, Hermione was behaving quite irrationally right now, so he didn't feel much like doing so.

"Hey, Harry!" Harry heard a call from nearby in the greenhouse as he wrestled with Snargaluff pods once again, slicing open the pod and squeezing it, juicing the pale green worms – truthfully, this pod contained more like pale green maggots – into his bowl.

"Hey Neville, what's up?" He said after he finished with the pod.

"I just wanted to tell you that I believe Snape attacked you first, you know. Mostly the whole class does, truthfully, except maybe Smith, and of course Malfoy. Anyway, you were brilliant, though! I've never seen anyone duel like that, Harry, it was really incredible. And I was just wondering if you could…you know, give me some pointers. Like you did in the D.A. last year?" Neville asked hopefully. Harry reflected back on how his friend last year would never have been able to work up the courage even to do that simple act; it seemed Neville needed lessons in confidence as much as dueling.

_Of course, if his parents hadn't been cursed on Voldemort's orders, orders I remember giving, mind you, he might not be like that…_Tom was obviously in favor of doing all he could to help the boy.

"Sure, Neville, we have a training room you can come visit with us this afternoon right before dinner…" Harry told him of the room and how Neville could get through the wards.

After classes found Katie, Ron, Harry, and Neville together in the training room.

"Alright, Harry, set that golem on me again!" Neville said determinedly. Harry almost had to admire the boy's perseverance. The golem fighting Neville was programmed only to fire underpowered flinging hexes and stinging spells. Neville, however, was still unused to combating the silent incantations that the golems had to use, and was therefore sporting bruises and sore joints from being flung all over the room and painful welts from the stinging hexes. Ron and Katie were trying to practice wandless magic – Ron had yet to levitate a feather, while Katie had just managed today for the first time – while Harry meditated on his Animagus form, making little progress. When Voldemort had managed it, the blackness had emerged unto the scene of a deadly Black Mamba snake striking and killing a small bird. Harry, however, saw no scene despite his attempts. It was really quite frustrating, to sit for hours and still have no clue about his form.

Finished with training after a few hours, the friends headed down to dinner; Dumbledore's absence only reminded Harry of the imminent attack on Azkaban.

_Has Voldemort already struck?_ Harry wondered.

_Likely, Harry. His Horcrux was threatened, and as you know his immortality is his most precious possession. I wouldn't have been terribly surprised if he struck only moments after he received the news. Of course, one of the Death Eaters would have had to recognize the locket…likely would have been either Bella or one of the elder Death Eaters like Avery._ Tom said. Harry agreed silently and postulated Umbridge's fate with Tom while he picked at his dinner without eating much of it. He was surprised when an unexpected redhead confronted him about it.

"Harry, why aren't you eating?" Ginny said from her spot across the table and two seats down. What was Ginny concerned about? She had hardly even spoken to Harry since school started, spending most of her time with her boyfriend Dean; even on the pitch she seemed to mostly ignore him.

"Huh? Oh…just thinking."

"Well get some food in you, you can't sit there thinking about your fight with Snape all day!" She said with a smile that Harry attempted to return to humor the girl. It didn't work out so well with all he had on his mind so he just turned back to his dinner and the conversation around him between Katie and Neville – Ron was next to Hermione, but neither were talking. Afterwards, he and Ron, Ginny tagging along skipping next to Harry, made their way to the Quidditch pitch after he wished Katie good luck in detention.

_Honestly, I think something's wrong with the girl._ Tom said, concerned about Ginny's mental state.

_Tom, I'm sure she's fine…maybe she's always like this?_ Harry responded.

_Harry, what girl over the age of eight _skips_ through the hall?_ Tom demanded. Harry fought a grin that threatened to make its way from his mind to his face.

_I don't know…Luna? Of course, I guess she's pretty crazy herself, so maybe that's not the best vote of confidence for Ginny…_

_I'm telling you, Harry. I have experience with this kind of thing, as well you know. Ginny has a crush on you. Again._ Tom said – Harry'd been fighting off this argument since dinner.

_Ginny has a boyfriend, Tom, and rumor around the tower is that they snog all the time! Why else would Ron spend just about every waking moment either in class or in the training room – suspiciously both places where Ginny can't snog Dean! Seriously, I think you're wrong._ Harry defended.

_And I think that you just don't want to deal with another brainless fangirl, and are therefore denying her existence._ Tom said superiorly. Unfortunately, Harry suspected that he was right.

_You know, you might not be Dark any longer, but you sure are still evil, taking this much pleasure out of the situation. What am I supposed to tell the poor girl? It's not like I can spend less time with her or something!_ Harry was quite dreading practice.

As it turned out, Dean the reserve Chaser was also in detention this evening for failing to complete a Transfiguration assignment, and so Harry was forced to play the third Chaser. Perhaps Ginny had been waiting for Katie and Dean to be absent from practice, but what followed was one of the most frustrating of Harry's life. Fortunately, Ron found such amusement in the dopey smiles Ginny was flashing Harry, along with her constantly seeking Harry's attention, that his mind was drawn from the scout's presence at the game and he performed quite well as a Keeper. Demelza and Harry were both able to put a few Quaffles past him after they perfectly executed a few of their best plays, but Ginny – did she really think Harry was attracted to helpless women? – didn't get a single ball.

"Alright, good practice. Beaters, good work, but look alive on Saturday; I have a feeling Slytherin will be gunning for Katie, so be sure to cover the Bludgers. Ron, looking great today, I know you'll impress the hell out of those scouts!" Ron turned red and grinned at the praise, "Demelza, real fine work, you've come a long way. Ginny…I don't know what the problem was today, but I hope you fix it by Saturday. I know Katie will be on top of her game, and we all want to look good for those Holyhead scouts, so let's keep it together and we'll be fine. Pre-game warm-up at eight on Saturday, so I'll see you all then." Harry said in dismissal. Everyone made to lock up their brooms and return to the tower; Harry noticed that Ginny looked to be quite furious, but the girl deserved every word he said.

"Mate, that was the greatest practice ever! What happened with Ginny? It was hysterical!" Ron called out as he smacked Harry on the back. Ron may have thought Ginny attempting to be whatever Harry found attractive in a woman was cute - _I never knew you were attracted to mental instability..._Tom inserted - but Harry found it quite annoying. However, the line past annoying was crossed when he and Ron found Dean and Ginny snogging quite enthusiastically in front of the portrait hole.

"Hey, keep your hands to yourself, Thomas! Especially in front of me!" Ron called, outraged. Dean gave Ron and Harry a wink before slipping inside the common room, leaving Ginny out with the boys.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She screeched, hands on her hips in a vague impersonation of her mother; Harry made to slip past the girl and opened the portrait - the common room was full, but he never made it past her.

"And you, Potter!" Harry looked at her funny - what did he have to do with this? "Just because you're jealous of my boyfriend, DOESN'T give you the right to interrupt my time alone with him!" She said, rounding on Harry. Even Ron looked confused at this, while Harry was looking at the girl like she was crazy.

"I'm over my crush on you, thank you very much! You had your chance and blew it, so get over it!" She continued loudly; naturally, the occupants of the common room gasped appropriately. Harry clenched his jaw together in annoyance, anticipating the rumors that were certain to begin. He turned around and marched into the common room, ignoring the girl's continued rant against him, and he thought he heard her round on Ron again after he shut the portrait of the Fat Lady. Silence reigned in the common room as he marched straight up to his room and continued reading the grimoire of a certain Grindelwald. A certain fantasy of charming Ron's hair to Ginny's length and trying out these curses made them stick especially well in his mind, until Ron entered the room almost half an hour later.

"Ginny finished?" Harry asked without looking up. Ron pulled up beside Harry's desk chair.

"Honestly, Harry, hard as it is to believe, the stuff she said about you wasn't the craziest of the night! She went completely mental, yelling at me to stay out of her life and all this nonsense! All I want is to walk into the common room without seeing my sister groped, is that too much to ask? Why can't they find a broom closet, even a corner _in_ the bloody common room? But _no_, she has to use the part of the hallway right in front of the portrait...if I didn't know better, I'd swear she wanted us to find her!" Ron said exasperated. Harry and Tom both agreed that it was likely - par for the course with how Ginny'd been acting all day. Of course, Katie Bell took that moment to walk into the room and looked at Harry and Ron.

"So...judging from how the entire room got quiet when I walked in, and people started whispering and staring at me, I'm guessing something happened? Did practice go terribly and everyone just thinks we'll lose to the Slytherins?" She asked with a smile. Harry, however, seemed to be in no mood for joking, and merely pulled his girlfriend into his lap and kissed her quickly.

"My sister went crazy..." Ron began, spilling the whole story while Katie just laughed.

"Wow...I knew she liked you, Harry." Harry questioned this skeptically, "Oh, of course, it was easy to spot. Don't you notice when other blokes check me out?"

"...Do other guys check you out all that often?" Tom reminded him that he was in a school full of hormonally driven teenage boys, so he didn't bother waiting for a response, "No, I've never really paid much attention. Too much time spent looking out for potential threats to notice leering boys. I guess maybe I'm just confident enough to know you like me." Katie apparently thought this a good enough answer, because Ron left the room shaking his head and muttering, "What's with all the snogging lately?" shortly afterward.

_**Azkaban Assaulted!**_

_The still-burning fires were the only sign of activity on the island prison of Azkaban early this morning after the Dark Lord decimated security forces. Attacking with an unknown number of his Death Eater accomplices, You-Know-Who invaded and quickly overcame the minimal security - almost all Aurors were away on a Ministry security drill possibly organized by supporters of the Dark Lord. _

_No survivors of the attack other than the Dark Lord's followers remain, but the limited magical surveillance on the prison indicated only paltry resistance to You-Know-Who's obviously overwhelming numbers. Nearly all of the Death Eaters captured in the recent battle in the Ministry itself were set free, and several others who the Ministry now believe serve You-Know-Who._

_Interestingly enough, recent addition to the prison former Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge was killed in a horrifyingly gruesome murder believed to have been perpetrated by the Dark Lord himself._

_Additionally, all of the personal effects of every prisoner, set free or slain, were taken by the Death Eaters; likely they were thought to have had Dark items in those effects that the Dark Lord desired in addition to his Death Eaters' freedom._

_The Minister, whose recent announcement of proactive measures to be taken against Dark forces, came under fire at the subsequent press conference, but stuck to his message of preparing all of Britain to defend itself. He also encouraged all concerned citizens to attend the Defensive Seminar series he has planned with help from Chief Warlock Dumbledore of the Wizengamot._

The next few days were, predictably, filled with much concern about the news of the breakout. Wanted ads for the recently escaped Death Eaters, notably the Lestrange Brothers and Dolohov, primarily, littered the pages of the _Prophet_. Also notable was the story of Lucius Malfoy, unfortunately backed by readouts from the magical sensors. It seems that a clever Death Eater, likely on Lucius' orders, cast the Imperius Curse while in Lucius' cell. Days afterward, Lucius wrote a letter to the editor detailing his escape from the clutches of the curse and the ensuing battle with known Death Eaters - coincidentally everyone he named was quite well known and he conveniently could not name the Dark Lord's hideout. He was thus labeled a hero by the _Prophet_, and the Wizengamot voted by majority to exonerate Lucius from the crimes he was imprisoned.

_He doesn't look so well, though. I'd bet hosting Voldemort in his home is starting to get to him._ Tom said.

_Or the fact that he spent a few months in Azkaban. Maybe the Dark Lord's service is starting to be less than glorious for dear Malfoy._ Harry said with a smile.

_Yes, there's also the fact that his only son and the Malfoy Heir has been tasked with killing the most powerful wizard alive next to Voldemort_. Tom added.

_Of course, the fact that he can't actually cast any spells isn't widely known..._Harry added. Conversations like this with Tom were getting more and more rare, it seemed. Since Harry had begun assimilating more and more memories - oftentimes in classes, he'd get memories of lessons or of Tom's Hogwarts days, in addition to all of the dueling memories he'd previously absorbed - Tom seemed less an outside presence and more of an occasional sounding board.

Harry had begun to notice his adoption of Tom's fine dress sense long ago, of course, in addition to his penmanship, but these were less drastic changes. More noticeable was his new affinity for reading. Granted, they were much more interesting books than anything Hermione read - many of the tomes from Dumbledore's personal collection he'd browsed through and few would even be allowed in the Restricted Section of the library! - but Ron had drawn parallels between the two friends.

However, he had little time for internal dialogue now, for it was Saturday morning before the first Quidditch match of the year, and Professor Slughorn was quite busy introducing Harry to Gwenog Jones, who seemed quite excited to see Harry, as well as the various owners, coaches, and scouts for the Holyhead Harpies that accompanied her to the game. The others had only gotten a cursory introduction before being allowed to begin their warm-up, but Slughorn was too busy sharing stories of Harry's brilliance on and off the pitch - had he even seen Harry fly? - to allow the boy to leave. At 8:30, however, Harry made his excuses and finally broke away to join his teammates on a quick lap around the pitch and started stretching.

"About time you finally made it, Captain. What happened to eight o'clock sharp?" Ginny asked bitingly. Harry only barely fought the urge to attempt to magically remove the foreign object up her arse before glancing at Katie's face, which was fighting a grin.

"Alright team, let's do a few passes and some shooting practice on Ron." Ron smiled somewhat weakly, but he did look better than he had while shaking the scout's hand. Demelza had been forced to lead him away and break the thirty second nervous handshake.

"Buck up, mate. I slipped some Felix Felicis in your juice this morning, so I know it'll be a good day!" Ron chuckled and eventually gave Harry a sincere grin at his attempt at humor. It was the wrong time for such a joke, however, as Hermione was making her way into the tent.

"What!" She still hadn't forgiven him for his comments about Azkaban or his fight with Snape. While Ron had eventually conceded the argument with the help of a well-placed chess analogy of sacrificing pawns instead of knights, Hermione retained her outrage. She even accused Harry of advising Scrimgeour himself with his "ridiculous notions".

"I can't _believe_ you would do that, Harry! I thought I saw something fishy this morning, but I wasn't sure! How could you? You know that potion is outlawed in any form of professional competition, Slughorn even told you! And with the scouts here, it was positively foolish! Ugh!" She stormed over to Ron.

"Well, I would wish you good luck, but it seems someone else has already taken care of it." She kissed him quickly on the cheek and shot Harry a glare. Still somewhat flustered from Ginny's psychotic behavior all week, he forced himself to use an Occlumency exercise to avoid cursing his best friend. _Remember, we've been through a lot together...killing her is bad...she'll realize she's being a stupid bint and apologize later..._He repeated to himself moderately effectively. Her kiss, however, had put a silly grin on Ron's face.

"Gosh, Harry, I reckon it is my lucky day!" He said with a brilliant smile.

"Harry! Harry!" Katie called, running over bounding in excitement. "You won't believe how lucky we are! Vaisey's not playing! He's fighting an injury or some such nonsense, can you believe it? Oh, and Malfoy claims to have a cold, so he's not playing either! Isn't that wonderful?" Ron glanced at Harry in alarm, and even Harry wondered if he really _had_ put lucky juice in someone's breakfast.

"Vaisey's their top scorer, Harry! And Malfoy...well, they actually might play better without him as Seeker, but still, means someone inexperienced! Blimey, Harry, I thought you were joking at first, but I reckon you really must've put something in my breakfast!" He said this last part in an excited whisper, and Harry only smirked mysteriously as he made his way to the center of the pitch in his spot as captain.

"Captains shake hands!" Madam Hooch said roughly. Urquhart, the Slytherin captain this year, attempted to crush Harry's hand with a vice grip; a little bit of wandless magic to augment his own grip had the large Slytherin looking quite surprised.

"And flying out now is the Gryffindor team; Potter's put together a fine group of his personal friends and classmates, it seems. Two of the Weasleys, Robbins, Bell his girlfriend, Peakes and Coote, and of course, Potter. Just to inform our prestigious guests, Potter himself may appear to be an excellent flyer, and only rarely defeated to catch the Snitch, but he's been flying on a Firebolt, so I -" The familiar voice, an inherently annoying one belonging to Zacharias Smith of the D.A., was cut of by Professor McGonagall's deadly hiss of, "Smith!"

"Sorry, Professor, I forgot their your House and Potter's always been favored by you. And here comes the Slytherin team!" Harry ignored the obviously jealous boy's taunts - why hadn't he noticed that Smith was just jealous of his fame before Tom? Merlin, how oblivious he was - and proceeded to watch the game unfold with a great big smile on his face.

The Gryffindor team seemed to be a seamless, unstoppable force that day. All three Chasers flew in beautiful synchronous formation; Katie took the position of lead scorer with Ginny only two goals behind her - she'd definitely stopped the nonsense of last practice, whatever that was about - and Demelza mostly flying interference. The petite third year seemed to have an uncanny ability to distract the Slytherin Chasers with her recklessly close flying, and then was able to pluck the Quaffle just as they attempted a shot. Harry too, having no luck finding the Snitch, interrupted a few breakaways by the Slytherins by diving at full speed just in front of them. The two Beaters, by far the weakest link on Gryffindor's team, held their own when the Slytherin's began a conspiracy to permanently break up the female trio with an injury, and, while failing to turn the Bludgers against the Slytherins very often, they did protect the girls admirably.

Ron, however, was the star of the show on the pitch. He blocked every single attempt by the Slytherins handily, and even pulled off a few daring maneuvers, once ending up with one knee hooked on his broom as he kicked the Quaffle away with his other foot. _Of course, showboating never figures into his saves_, Harry thought with a grin as he saw that particular save. Ron seemed to think that with his "lucky potion", he gained some sort of immortality, so his favored save was the Starfish and Stick, recklessly even trying an inverted Starfish and Stick when the Slytherins believed they'd finally outflown the Keeper. After an hour of play and Gryffindor smashing their rivals 100 - 0, Harry finally saw the glint of gold just after he broke the Slytherin Chasers' formation, causing them o scatter like a flock of pigeons. He took off like a jet towards the elusive ball, and the Slytherin Seeker, a rather unpleasant boy who merely scowled at Harry's antics and patrolled for the Snitch, never stood a chance as Harry overtook him with his superior broom and lazily caught the ball.

Deafening cheers erupted as both teams descended to the ground, the Gryffindors hoisting up Ron in congratulations.

"Harry! Did you see me with that inverted Starfish and Stick!? And when I was hanging on with only my knee! It was wicked! I can't believe I was so..._lucky_!" He said excitedly.

Harry tossed his friend the quite full bottle of Felix while he was still hoisted up, grinning.

"What's this? You never gave me the potion!" Ron looked flabbergasted.

"No way, Ron, it was all you!" Ron paled slightly.

"I could've been killed! Oh Merlin!" Harry laughed as the team headed towards Gwenog Jones and the others from the Harpies approached the team and offered congratulations, pulling aside Katie, Ron, and Harry almost immediately.

"You all played extraordinarily well today, and we'd love to congratulate all of you. By the way, have you all considered the Junior Leagues? The best student players from all of Europe attend every summer - they're being held in Bulgaria this year, of course - and some of the staff fly for the National Teams. Anyway, the Harpies Administration would love to sponsor your attendance; we expect fine things from all of you. Think it over, and we'll meet in the Headmaster's office later today. Go party, kids, you deserve it!" Both Ron and Katie looked floored by this - were those tears in Ron's eyes? Yeah, definitely - and dazedly followed Harry back to the crowd. At Hermione's approach, Harry whispered to Ron, "See if your luck holds up and ask her out, mate!" But his eyes only widened in response. A small redhead in Gryffindor Quidditch robes, however, knocked the bushy-haired brunette out of her way and ran over to the three players, nearly knocking Harry over in a tight hug. It was his turn for his eyes to widen as he looked helplessly first to Ron and Katie. Katie, of course, again found this extremely amusing, and Ron seemed to take a cue from her and smiled. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Oh Harry, you were brilliant! Did you see me flying up there?" She finally said, releasing him. He put on the most fake smile he ever had.

"Yeah, you were good. Four goals is really good. I was glad to see you got over whatever problems you seemed to be having at practice..." He added, which only caused Katie to finally let loose a snort she'd been holding in.

Ginny gave her an icy glare, "Yes, well, I was having a bit of a rough day. At least I bothered to show up. Anyway, nice flying, Harry, you looked...pretty fine out there." She said at last with an odd glance.

_Does she not realize that she _has_ a boyfriend already, and I already have a beautiful girlfriend?_ Harry futilely questioned Tom.

_I may have the wisdom and knowledge of a powerful Dark Lord, Harry, but women are beyond even the all-knowing demons...But I must say that I am interested to see what she tries next. She tried helpless girl and failed, tried skilled Quidditch athlete and failed...I'm going to put my money on "I need help with Defense" next. What'll you owe me?_ He said cheekily as Harry kissed Katie firmly.

_I'm not taking that bet, you know how to manipulate people too well to fail to spot it in others._ "Katie, I believe that I need to get the memory of Ms. Weasley's embrace off of me...meet me in the training room?" She agreed with a decidedly predatory look and then told Harry to turn around. He saw Ron and Hermione in what appeared to be the world's most awkward kiss; Ron really had _never_ snogged before, had he? Merlin, he didn't even know the basic motions of it! Laughing, Harry and Katie headed up to the training room before hitting the showers to wash off the Quidditch sweat. Well, mostly Quidditch.


	11. Quidditch, Wedding, Press Conference

**A/N:** A bit of a warning here, there is some pretty graphic violence towards the end of the chapter. Not enough to warrant a rating boost, in my opinion, as there won't be any kind of graphic sexual nature or extreme language to go along with it. Thanks,

-Kevin

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Eleven: Quidditch, Wedding, Press Conference

It was later that same evening that found quite a crowd in the Headmaster's office. Gwenog Jones, along with several men who Harry did not know, anxiously greeted Harry when he walked in with Ron and Katie. Professors McGonagall and Slughorn were standing off to the side near Professor Dumbledore; also notably present was the sneering visage of Lucius Malfoy, recently exonerated from his Azkaban sentence.

"Harry Potter! Good to see you again!" Gwenog said as she vehemently shook Harry's hand. "We didn't really get much time to talk there on the pitch," She continued, "but I'd love to hear more about your Quidditch exploits! You ride a Firebolt, eh? I got mine when I played for the English National Team, most all of the Nationals have 'em for every player. They're something, right?" _Gwenog played for the English National Team?_

"Yeah, my Firebolt's great…it was a gift." Harry would have said more if the others in the room hadn't decided that the captain had taken enough of Harry's time to herself.

"Harry Potter, what an honor! Philbert Deverill, Puddlemere United General Manager." _Puddlemere? I thought it was the Harpies who were interested? Is this a National spectacle or something?_

"Gwendolyn Morgan, Mr. Potter, manager of the Harpies." Said a witch about McGonagall's age; Harry could tell that at one point she'd likely been quite pretty.

"And I, Mr. Potter, am Einion Llewellyn, owner of both those fine teams!" Said a rather portly older gentlemen. He reminded Harry strongly of Professor Slughorn, who was seated in a large, comfortable chair eagerly observing the meeting.

"Pleasure to meet all of you. This is Chaser Katie Bell and our Keeper Ron Weasley." Harry quickly introduced them. Ron quickly showed his vast knowledge for useless Quidditch trivia.

"Are you the Harpies captain who hit the Heidelberg captain with your broom in that '53 game?" He asked wide-eyed to the Harpies manager, who smirked teasingly at him.

"Why, you are quite well versed in Quidditch history, my boy! An excellent game - we trounced them soundly and I got to pretend I was a Beater!" Ron was awed, for whatever reason Harry couldn't tell. He decided to object to Malfoy's presence immediately.

"Mr. Malfoy, I was wondering what business you have here." Harry said with almost all traces of politeness and mirth gone. Lucius narrowed his eyes at the pompous brat.

"As the owner of a Quidditch team myself, I am the most able Hogwarts governor to attend to such a situation." At Harry's look of disbelief, he smirked maliciously. "Oh yes, hadn't you heard? Part of my exoneration by the Wizengamot included their belief that I have a say in our future wizards' education. I was quite pleased, of course." Dumbledore, however, was not quite so pleased - whether this was because Harry now had a history of publicly brawling with Death Eaters or Malfoy's appointment in general, Harry couldn't tell.

"I see. Well, Mr. Llewellyn, to what do we owe the honor of your presence?" Harry said, flashing the older gentlemen a smile that was eagerly returned. Malfoy seemed intrigued by this out-of-character turn for Harry - the boy had never interacted with anyone so well, much less a rich adult stranger!

"Ah, call me Einion, Harry! If I may call you Harry, of course," Harry smiled and nodded, "Well, I've heard that you three are all quite promising young Quidditch players and that the Harpies would like to sponsor you for the Junior Leagues!" Harry smiled easily while Ron was whipping his head up and down so fast Harry believed he might need the Hospital Wing. Katie, while not quite as excited as Ron, was acting similarly.

"Well, that's all well and good for Ms. Bell; after all, I believe our Gwenog wants to give you a tryout anyway! However, the Harpies, as is well known, only field witches, so it presents a unique little problem to send you two off when you can't possibly play for the Harpies. So Gwendolyn flooed me up and told me your problem, and I called up Philbert here," He motioned to the Manager of Puddlemere, "Who thought it a splendid idea that Puddlemere - my other team, you know - sponsor the two of you boys! Both organizations have worked together for some time, and the publicity will be beneficial to both teams, so everyone wins!" He said excitedly. Lucius Malfoy took this opportunity to interrupt once more, which caused Harry to notice that Professor Slughorn seemed less than thrilled to hear him speak. Interesting.

"Einion, if I may just repeat myself, I believe that these students are all receiving an unfair advantage. They were allowed to play against an inexperienced team and you haven't even seen half of the players -" He began in a drawl. Einion brushed him off with a wave. _He must be well-off indeed to treat Lucius Malfoy like that. Although I did steal half of Malfoy's fortune..._

"Tosh, Lucius, and you know it. Both boys showed incredible talent - of course Ms. Bell flew splendidly also, but I daresay her inclusion isn't objected. Anyway, its my prerogetive to sponsor whomever I please for the Junior Leagues. You can sponsor your own students...oh wait, I believe Mr. Potter will have to approve those appointments now, won't he? Yes...he'd be a half-owner, wouldn't he?" Einion chuckled as a cold mask of fury dropped onto Lucius' face. Harry was quite certain that if Dumbledore wasn't there, he'd have been fighting off curses despite the prominent company.

"I'll be correcting that Ministerial oversight as soon as I'm able, have no doubts, Einion," Lucius snarled, failing to contain his temper as it leaked into his harsh tone, "And I'm sure that the two flyers Wimbourne sponsors will be quite a hit at the Juniors. Obviously my advice is going on unheeded, so I shall not remain in such company with no purpose!" Harry cleared his mind with Occlumency and looked into Lucius' eyes quickly, and unsurprising scenes flashed before his eyes.

_"Please, Master, we tried!" Lucius begged. He was writhing on the floor with both of the Lestrange brothers, only Bellatrix in attendance as Voldemort tortured his highest Death Eaters._

_"Get that money back, Lucius! Do whatever you must!" Voldemort screamed in his unnatural high squeal._

_"My Lord! I'll go to Hogwarts now, there's a Quidditch game where Potter plays, perhaps an opportunity will present itself!" Lucius pleaded. Voldemort yelled, "Crucio!" one last time before sending the blonde aristocrat off._

Lucius' eyes drilled into Harry's, while the boy merely smirked, amused.

"Good day, Mr. Malfoy. I hope I'll trouble your mind no longer." A deadly glare shot his way immediately, a slight flush staining Malfoy's porcelain skin as he nearly shook with rage, shoving past Ron and Harry violently. It seemed Azkaban had done quite a number on the Malfoy patriarch's control of his temper.

"Heavens, prison must have been rough on the man," Slughorn said lightly from his corner.

"Yes, he seemed quite easily perturbed, I believe. Quite understandable, but inexcusable nonetheless. Really, he shouldn't have emerged unto polite society until he was...healthy again." Einion said with a smile.

"Now, as for you three! We have just a few little things to go over as part of the sponsor contract." Einion continued with a smile. Gwendolyn Morgan and Philbert Deverill, the two General Managers of the team, withdrew packages and returned them to full size in the Headmaster's office.

"Now, the main event from a publicity standpoint is the press conference featuring all of us, you three, and possibly Professor Dumbledore and your Head of House. Just a bit of an announcement, maybe a speech from Harry thanking us and telling everyone how excited he is - there's a good lad! And, of course, a bit of paraphenalia for you three to wear under your uniforms and outside of class!" Philbert passed Harry and Ron official Puddlemere jerseys without names on the back, along with a brand new set of matching pads and gloves; Gwendolyn did the same for Katie. All of the present teachers, of course, also received jerseys.

"Of course, you'll wear those uniforms when you play at the Juniors, and wear the pads, too. Bit of advertising for the photographers there, in addition to letting the scouts know we have first crack at you!" Indeed, the contract did indicate that Puddlemere was allowed to the proposition Harry and Ron before any other team, and the Harpies had the same deal with Katie. Since both teams were quite good, particularly the Harpies, this was really an added benefit.

"Now, for the Juniors, you'll need decent brooms, so here's…a Brand New Nimbus 2100 for each of you! Harry, you can still fly on that Firebolt of yours, I don't think anyone would begrudge you that! And, of course, we'd love to have you at Llewellyn Field out over the summer some time, kids. Both of my teams practice there alternate days, you know, so you can come out and maybe watch, maybe do a little flying...heck, I bet we could set up a pick-up game with members of both teams if you give us a little advance notice!" Einion said, encouraging the kids to sign. Ron had long ago put his quill to paper - about the same instant the new broomstick was revealed, in fact - and Katie had just began initialing each page of the contract, while Harry held out just a bit longer, thinking it over.

_After all, I don't know what all I'll be doing this summer, Tom...Dumbledore will be gone, I might be in charge of the fight against Voldemort! Can I really afford to go to some silly Quidditch League in Eastern Europe? Or waste my time flying around when I should be practicing dueling?_ Harry questioned, holding his quill above the signature line as Einion urged him on silently.

_You also have to live your own life, Harry. Your parents wouldn't want you to single-mindedly pursuing this task, nor would even Dumbledore expect that of you. Live your life first, fight Voldemort second. Otherwise you've nothing to fight for._ He said sagely. Harry nodded and neatly put his name on the final line. Einion smiled broadly and shook Harry's hand vigorously.

"Excellent, Mr. Potter, excellent! I think we should schedule our press conference sometime soon...perhaps on the next Hogsmeade weekend, just before your break! Splendid, splendid...I'm certain all of your friends will want to come, after all. And of course, I've heard about your little Defense seminar - what a marvelous idea, I say! I'll be sure to have both the teams there in a show of support, we can address that at the press conference, too, as I'm sure there'll be questions." Philbert and Gwendolyn shook hands with Harry, Ron, and Katie one last time before leaving the Headmaster's office through the fireplace.

"Right, Harry, I'll be lookin' forward to dueling you at that seminar! And Bell, keep up the good work and we'll see about that tryout!" Gwenog called before following the managers and owner, leaving the students alone with the professors. McGonagall, not even bothering to hold in her smile while looking at the two professional uniforms she now held, was the first to congratulate her students.

"Well, I can certainly say that Gryffindor was represented splendidly this evening. Congratulations to all of you, and jobs very well done." She made to leave before pausing, "Harry, you may serve your second detention with me next Friday." Harry shook his head as his Head of House left.

"Well, I must say that I always did see greatness in all three of you! Good show, good show!" Slughorn clapped like an amused infant in his excitement. He might have connections to two professional teams, now, after all.

"Goodness, I can't _wait_ to spread that news around my Christmas party. Harry, I've already had just _dozens_ of requests from a few old friends to get invited so they can see you; I can't believe how many I've had to turn down! Heavens, we'd have had to hold it in the Great Hall!" He chuckled in amusement at his own joke while his chins bounced wildly.

"Really, though, now all _three_ of you are just going to be the guests of honor! Ron, dear, you _must_ invite your whole family, I dearly want to meet them. I've heard that Bill is quite the curse-breaker, after all, and I know so many friends in the Goblin Liason office, I'm just certain we have a few mutual acquaintances. And Percival! I've heard all about him from _several_ highly placed former students - that one's making waves!" Slughorn failed to hear Ron's vehement, "Stupid Git Percy..." "And I'll have you know I've enjoyed a number of Wheezes since those marvelous brothers of yours started _their_ shop...why, I must congratulate old Arthur and your wonderful mother Molly on such a fine group of young citizens they've produced!" Harry had to hold back a smile when he thought of Molly's tearful reaction to _that_ declaration from Slughorn.

"Anyway, I'll see you children in Potions, marvelous flying today, by the way!" Slughorn called when he finally waddled out. Dumbledore smiled as he watched the old codger leave.

"I agree, fine flying from all of you. I particularly enjoyed a few of your aerial antics, Mr. Weasley. Quite the dexterity you showed, I'd never have guessed. Now, why don't we discuss this press conferences of yours and the following seminar, Harry? Your friends are welcome to stay, as I imagine they'd hear retellings soon in any case.

"Obviously, such a public spectacle could be an invitation for Voldemort's forces, so we need to think of some protections." Dumbledore said seriously. Harry had given this some thought, and Tom had given it even more, so Harry relayed what he'd come up with.

"Well, sir, let's start with the press conference. I think that, given the three weeks notice, Scrimgeour can loan out some Aurors...I'd say maybe seven or so, including Kingsley and Tonks, and maybe post some more Order members like Moody around the crowd just in case. Also, I was thinking maybe put up a small warding scheme around the podium area to give us even more of a bit of protection. If things get rough, I'll Side-Along Apparate Ron, and Katie can Apparate herself out. We should set up an emergency area under Fidelius or something - maybe the Shrieking Shack? Or maybe just Grimmauld Place, that might do." Katie and Ron had turned to him, Ron absolutely shocked and Katie looking somewhat oddly at him, while Dumbledore had just raised his eyebrows slightly.

"That is...quite a thorough security plan, Harry. I'm glad you did not blindly agree to that conference like I feared. Although I am a little uncertain as to just when you were able to come up with it." Dumbledore said in a smile. _Well, it helps when I have two minds working..._Harry thought nervously.

"Well, I guess those lessons with Alastor taught me to always have a few plans on the backburner..." Dumbledore nodded.

"I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that. You make several good points; You may write to Rufus and request his Aurors, I doubt that he'd give you a hard time, since he already has Aurors throughout Hogsmeade for your benefit - unofficially, of course. I will also talk to Bill Weasley about creating that warding scheme; he is quite talented at crafting them as well as shattering them. At this moment, I am...less than inclined to cast an additional Fidelius Charm, and since I am the only person I know of who actually knows the complex and nearly forgotten charm, we shall use Grimmauld Place as the Apparation Point in case of danger." Dumbledore had a point that not even Tom knew how to perform the Fidelius Charm. It was, however, contained in one of the books that Harry took from Dumbledore's personal library; Harry quickly learned the amazing spell, as well as how it worked.

"That sounds perfect, sir. Thank you. As for the seminar, I believe it would be quite foolish for the Death Eaters to try anything, as we'll have the entirety of the D.A., most of the Auror and Hit Wizard ranks, as well as yourself and the teaching staff present to ward off such an attack. But if they try anything, I'll make sure Fred and George send me some goodies to help deal with them." Harry had some ideas of his own about surprises for the Death Eaters, but let Dumbledore think he'd rely exclusively on the twins' creations.

"That sounds adequate for now. Incidentally, congratulations for receiving an award from my own favorite team, Harry. What an exciting evening you've all had! Why don't you head back to your common room and display the spoils of sponsorship to your classmates? I'm quite certain they'll be anxious to see your new uniforms and broomsticks." Indeed, Ron was clutching his new Nimbus like a precious infant. Harry and his friends made to leave, but Fawkes seemed to object to his lack of petting, and with a squawk, he exploded in a ball of fire and reappeared on Harry's shoulder, causing Ron to jump away quickly.

"'Lo, Fawkes. How've you been?" Harry asked with a laugh, easily casting a bit of the _Aguamenti_ charm to put out the burnt robe. Fawkes preened as he lavished the attention, eventually leaving Harry's shoulder to return to his perch. Harry silently repaired his burnt robes and bid the Headmaster goodbye.

"Bloody hell, Harry, does Fawkes always do that to you?" Ron asked as he clutched his broom close trekking through the hall; perhaps he was afraid that Fawkes would catch alight his broomstick?

"He's never done that precisely before, but he usually complains unless I pet him some or at least send him a greeting. We've been on good terms since he helped me fight that Basilisk." Harry said, smirking at that last part. Katie shook her head at him.

"You know, Harry, other boys say things like that to be prats, but you are actually serious about it. 'Fighting a Basilisk' is like a turn of phrase, kinda like tickling a sleeping dragon…You know, I shouldn't be giving you ideas." She said with a roll of her eyes and a smile at him.

"Oh no, if I come upon a dragon, sleeping or otherwise, I just know to hop on my Firebolt and get the heck out of there; trust me, I have experience." He said, grinning. They came upon the common room and opened the door to an annoyingly long session of 'oohs', 'aahs', and 'wow!'

It was the next morning at mail that Harry received a reminder of something he'd definitely forgotten in all of the events of the prior month. A tawny owl, the type typically rented out from Diagon Alley, dropped a gold and black embossed parchment for him; curiously, he found a handsome printed script with a witch's scribbled writing crossing out some parts and adding to others.

_**You are hereby formally invited to the joyous union of **__**Nymphadora **__** - **__**Don't call me that, Remus!**__** – Tonks and Remus John Lupin. Please join us for this celebration on December 21, 1996, at Headquarters. **__**Only Order members and my mum and dad are invited, so no worries there!**_

"I guess I'll have to pop into Headquarters to make sure that Kreacher has the place done up right…though Tonks may be ordering him around." Harry said to Ron and Katie. Dumbledore agreed later that day that telling Ms. Bell the location for the wedding couldn't hurt.

And so Harry found himself in the Transfiguration classroom, kneeling on the floor – he'd thankfully cast a cushioning charm beforehand, so his knees weren't as sore as they could have been. He'd been deep into meditation for two hours now, attempting to find his blasted Animagus form, but having no luck. He'd definitely spent way more time than Tom had finding his form, and indeed nothing had been revealed to Harry at all in the blackness, not even a habitat, a smell, the feel of the forest slithering beneath him as Tom had felt. Perhaps he just had no animal form, no animalistic nature that best expressed his own instincts.

_Well, Harry, you have recently undergone a transition that is likely previously unheard of. Perhaps your form has not solidified itself just as your own personality changed, is changing, even, from our merging._ Harry got the mental picture of his Animagus form as a two-headed troll bashing the other head with a club. Useful form…

And just like that, the picture emerged. At first it was slight, only a few streams of color, but suddenly he was there! In a forest of some kind, with vegetation all over, green exploding into his vision. Suddenly, the animal on display was disturbed somehow, and Harry saw what must be his form. It was the same mental picture, the same animal that Tom had seen all those years ago. But while it excited the cruel boy, Voldemort at that time already, Harry was somewhat disappointed. He'd found his form. He was a Black Mamba snake, just like Voldemort. Marked as his equal, indeed.

"Hey, mate, it's no big deal! So what if you're a snake…better than a mosquito or something, right?" Ron said that following Saturday in the training room. Since Harry had found his form, McGonagall no longer forced him to stay; she'd misinterpreted his gasp of horror – after all, it meant that he had the same personality as a 16-year old Voldemort – as one of excitement, and was even more excited when told her that he'd only show her his form when he finished the transformation. Privately, he debated ever completing the transformation.

"Right, Ron…better than a mosquito." Harry said distractedly. Ron was still having trouble regularly levitating his feather – he seemed to have a bit of a mental block for wandless magic – and so it randomly shot across the room as he sighed and pulled out his wand to summon it back.

"_Accio feather_," Harry said lazily as the feather zoomed to his hand. He handed it to his scowling friend, who took it and attempted to repeat the exercise. Katie had moved on to attempting to levitate a book, but so far all it had done was shake a little. Being unable to dedicate a nearly constant stream of attention to the task, as Harry had done when he worked over the summer, none of them had progressed well. Hermione, who'd never made up with Harry, per se, but was hanging out with them again and even speaking with Harry now, had begun reading a few books from the Restricted Section on the topic – there weren't many there, and even those were quite dated – but not yet attempted the wandless magic training.

"Harry, I'm telling you, you're doing it all wrong! It says quite clearly here that you first do the meditations, then attempt the self-transfiguration on limbs and eventually greater portions of your body. Nowhere does it mention levitating feathers!" She said exasperatedly.

"And I'm telling you, Hermione, that the reason it takes years is because no one knows wandless magic enough to succeed with those transformations at first. Practice easier wandless magic, then build up to the big stuff. And the meditation can be done at any time, even if you have improved your proficiency with wandless magic." He explained for the twelfth time._ She's far too obsessed with established protocol. When I was her age, I never followed instructions. Of course, I believed that the instructors were much less capable than myself…but I had the right mindset, if not the correct reasons._ Tom said with a mental roll of his eyes at her.

"Well then why doesn't the book say to do that?!" She questioned angrily.

"Maybe he never tried my way, so he doesn't know how much better it is." Harry said with a smirk that caused Ron to laugh and Katie to roll her eyes. Hermione followed Katie's example, but her eye roll had little to do with his humor.

"Fine! _Wingardium Leviosa!_" She said, pointing to Ron's feather without her wand. The feather didn't so much as budge. Hermione looked shocked, as though she expected her theory to carry over perfectly on the first attempt.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!_" She called again, with a swish and flick of her finger. Again, nothing happened except her face got red as she got angry. Flustered, she yelled, "_WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!!_" And the feather burst into a puff of smoke. Harry chuckled appreciatively.

"Don't worry, that happened to me a few times too, Hermione. Good attempt." He casually conjured up another feather for both her and Ron. With Hermione beside him on the floor, instead of curled up in an armchair with a dusty book, Ron had much more incentive to succeed, and thus his next attempt sent the feather into the air and his ears reddened.

"Good work, Ron. Help Hermione a bit, will you? I need to study my form some." And so Harry spent his Saturday in observation. It didn't feel the same as it had for Tom, however, almost like something was missing from the picture, something that Harry was missing. He was forced to end that session a bit early, however, and soon was running to the edge of the Hogwarts wards under his Invisibility Cloak so that he could Apparate to Grimmauld Place to check it out. A soft 'pop' later and he was gone entirely.

"Reemy!" He heard a female voice call out in a sultry fashion. _Who's here? Who could possibly have broken in? Is this the wrong place?_ But Harry was sure he was in the right spot. He stuffed his Invisibility Cloak back in his enlarged inside pocket before he drew his wand and cursed silently.

_Should have worn my dueling robes, damn it! Find Kreacher…he might be able to help. _Indeed, as he burst into the kitchen silently, he saw the elf there making dinner.

"Master! His Darkness has returned! Oh, Thank you, Master! Your punishment was most cruel and vicious, but I's put up with it like a good house elf! Sending dirty evil halfbreeds for Kreacher to serve..." Kreacher shuddered as though the very thought would be relived in the presence of a Dementor.

"Half-breeds, Kreacher? Who is here right now?" Harry asked urgently.

"That dirty werewolf and changing half-Black. Ugh, Mudblood bitch, Mistress would never have allowed her inside, Mistress would have –" Harry cut off the thing – was it back to its babbling insanity? – quickly.

"Yes, Kreacher, how is your Mistress doing? Still hanging?" Harry asked, a plan to get rid of the vile Mrs. Black in his head.

"Oh yes, Master, she is being most pleased to hear about your Dark self as the new Lord Black. I is telling her about all your wonderful wickedness, and she is being most impressed, she is!" Kreacher had tears of adoration in his eyes as he clung to Harry's right leg, kissing him just above his knee.

"Excellent, Kreacher. I was wondering if you'd like to have her portrait for yourself, hang it up in your room and all that. I just wouldn't want her to be lonely, after all…" Kreacher looked up at Harry shocked, tears streaming down his face.

"Oh Master! Kreacher is not worthy of –"

"Are you disagreeing with me, Kreacher?" Harry's cold tone forced Kreacher's mouth shut and he hit the floor in a bow.

"Of course not, Master, you is knowing best, of course! Kreacher will move the portrait immediately!" Harry, meanwhile, decided to see to his guests.

The Black manor looked extraordinary, to put it lightly. Every surface gleamed with fresh wax or polish – the floors so dark they could have been polished ebony, and silver adornments filled the walls. Gleaming silver sconces in every room, supporting elaborate lights that Harry didn't remember from when Sirius and the Order were using the house. Door handles were also fancy silver, often with fine crystals embedded in them – were they diamonds? Truly, the Black house had been an investment beyond Harry's ability to fathom; Voldemort knew that not even the Malfoy Manor had such decorations. The state of the house notwithstanding, what excited Harry the most was this most excellent opportunity to embarrass Remus and Tonks. Smirking to himself, he focused as hard as he could on the figure of Remus, attempting to use his Metamorph Medal. He grew slightly as he reached Remus' approximate height, his hair lightened and grayed slightly, and his entire visage got a sort of worn and exhausted look. He quickly made his way to the rather noisy room and burst in.

"What the hell is going on here?" Harry said in Remus Lupin's voice. He saw Tonks and Remus jump apart and cover themselves in sheets.

"R-Remus? What is going on?!" Tonks shrieked , jumping off of the bed and taking the sheet with her, leaving Remus to fall off of the other side, nude.

"Who are you?" He said weakly, attempting to cover himself. Harry fought to keep his face looking angry as he drew his wand without wandless magic like he was used to.

"I could ask the same of you. I could also ask you why the hell you're in bed with my fiancé!" Harry said in barely contained rage. He thought that Remus would react this way, not in a blind rage attacking everything in sight.

"Wha-what? Tonks is my fiancé! And what is this? Polyjuice?" Remus had a sort of calculating look in his eye as he looked around the room, likely trying to find a wand; Harry had noticed that it was on the side of the bed Tonks was on, not Remus' side. That would be good for when he revealed himself.

"Is that what you used, Polyjuice? Clever. But of course, Tonks should be able to tell who her real fiancé is." Tonks looked quite bewildered when both Remus' turned to her.

"Of course, Tonks, tell him he's an imposter!" The real Remus cried, still attempting to cover himself. She looked hard at both versions of her future husband for a moment.

"What color was my hair when we first met?" She asked slowly.

"Bubblegum pink," both men said immediately. Then they turned to scowl at each other identically. Tonks made an odd face at their synchronicity. Remus narrowed his eyes a moment.

"Did I get a Time-Turner or something, and come back to prank myself?" He asked confused. Harry decided to end the joke and just laughed aloud, returning to himself. Tonks shrieked and Remus jumped across the bed, leaping for his wand.

"Relax, you two, it's me Harry!" He said, still chuckling. Tonks' eyes narrowed and she just started cursing the boy, Remus joining in.

"That wasn't funny you brat! What the bloody hell were you thinking? I ought to curse your arse off!" Harry was howling with laughter as her curses ineffectively bounced off of his _Absolvo_ shield.

"Harry, what are you doing out of school?" Remus asked as he grabbed a portion of the sheet from Tonks to cover himself.

"Well, I was just going to check up on this old place to make sure everything would look good for your wedding. I got about the scare of a lifetime when I heard what I thought were intruders, and so I decided to pay you two back for it. I think I succeeded quite well. Nice bum, by the way, Nymphadora." The auror growled and shot off a rather powerful hex that actually burst through Harry's shield, causing him to duck.

"Thanks for the comment about my bum, Harry, but don't call me Nymphadora!" She said. Harry chuckled appreciatively.

"Well…I'll let you two get back to it, owl me if you need anything for the wedding – remember, cost isn't an issue, since the Malfoys are paying for it!" Harry called cheerfully before closing the door and locking it quite securely. The rune he traced on the door wouldn't allow it to be opened for about twelve hours, as his little gift to the couple for interrupting. With a slight whistled tune and a soft 'pop', Harry returned to Hogsmeade and used the tunnel beneath the Shrieking Shack to make his way back to the castle.

Far too quickly, the end of term came upon the N.E.W.T. students as they worked diligently through a rather exhaustive series of tests in every subject. Harry was the only one in his year to find the tasks simple and even enjoyable in some cases. Professor Flitwick fell out of his chair in surprise when he asked Harry to perform a water charm and Harry said clearly, "_Aqua Eructo_" and a torrent of water flooded the Charms room. It was one spell he'd learned from Grindelwald's grimoire, and useful because it was the only charm the Dark Wizard had found to remotely combat Fiendfyre, whose detailed use was also on the pages. Flitwick squeaked excitedly and gave Harry full marks after he easily cast the Protean Charm on a sheet of parchment, their most recent Charm project. Tom, of course, was more than familiar with that charm, and his experience allowed Harry to complete a particularly fine one that copied his writing to the other sheet.

Professor McGonagall, too, was pleased when Harry conjured up a beautiful red rose for her upon her asking him for a conjured item. For large scale, he concentrated hard and was able to conjure a Jacuzzi filled with bubbling water and functional jets. The teacher giggled at him and rolled her eyes before dismissing it easily. That was lucky, because Harry was fairly certain that such a conjuration would not have lasted more than twenty seconds or so. Fairly drained, he was almost tempted to use his Metamorph Medal when McGonagall asked him to transfigure his hair and then his nose. He gave himself greasy hair and a hooked nose like Snape, which caused her to smirk and nod before giving him full points.

Snape didn't even bother hiding his loathing for Harry during the practical Defense examination. He still didn't trust Harry because of his observations; Harry was only slightly worried because his accusations were surprisingly insightful.

"Potter, pretend that dummy is an Inferius and demonstrate how to combat it." He said with a scowl. Harry lazily let off a silent Blasting Curse that destroyed the dummy and knocked Snape off his stool next to it.

"Fifteen points from Gryffindor! Now I need a new dummy, Potter!" _You could always ask Draco to volunteer_, Harry thought; he kept this to himself, however, merely smiling pleasantly at the teacher.

"The proper way to combat an Inferius is through the use of fire, Potter, not knocking me off my bloody stool!" Snape reprimanded.

"I'm sorry, sir, was the heat from the Blasting curse not effective enough? In addition to destroying the target Inferius, it would also drive back its friends, I think. I can't really think of a more effective solution other than possibly the use of Fiendfyre. And since I'm not proficient in the use of that particular spell and didn't want to burn down all of Hogwarts if it got out of control, I decided to use a Blasting curse." Harry said in a pleasant, rather amused tone. He was, after all, picturing Snape and Draco as twin dummies, and it was enough to take the edge off of Snape's comments.

"Fine, silently cast a shield to protect against my spells." _Uh oh, this could turn messy pretty quick_. Harry decided to erect both an _Absolvo_ shield and a gleaming silver _Imprimis_ shield; Snape's curse hit the gleaming shield with a resounding 'Gong!' and impacted against the wall leaving a rather nasty looking black mark. Likely Snape's curse would have easily penetrated a standard _Protego_ shield, as Harry expected. Two more quick spells from Snape, along with a snarl and a mark that looked suspiciously like an 'A', and Snape ushered him from the class, calling in the next victim.

Professor Sprout's test was fairly standard – a bit of wrestling with a few dangerous plants and Harry'd finished easily. Slughorn's exam was again different, in that he sat by while Harry and the class completed their Blood-Replenishing Potions and Draughts of Living Death – cheerfully proclaiming Harry's potions to be stellar examples of the Art of Potioneering. Harry left the dungeon with a rather convincing fake smile after Slughorn loudly announced that he'd "Be seeing Harry at his party this Saturday evening!"

Early Saturday morning, however, found Harry giving up his Hogsmeade visit, instead discussing with Bill Weasley Harry's planned ward scheme for the podium.

"Really, Harry, it's rather brilliant, but I'm not sure just where you came up with this stuff. I've never heard of a directed Repelling ward being used like that…but it makes sense, and I'd be willing to try it. So we'll throw in that shield charm I like as well as that chain scheme and be done with it, eh?" Bill said enthusiastically. Harry agreed, and began carving the few runes upon which the scheme would be based; inconspicuously located near the base of the podium. Harry used a trick that Tom learned in Albania to trace boundary wards that linked to the physical wards to delineate the barriers of the scheme, thus saving them from displaying the wards from all of the questioning reporters.

All in all, Harry found that Bill was quite a devious little warder, and more than a bit malicious – he'd learned his lessons in Egypt quite well. The new scheme, with Bill's additions to Harry's basic plan, would leave any unauthorized trespasser a good thirty feet away, unconscious, and tightly bound in black magical cord and anchored with reinforced chain. A well placed _Sectumsempra_ might damage the chain, but Harry had expended quite a bit of his energy in that particular ward, so the caster would have to be quite powerful. Of course, all of the effects could only be reversed by Harry himself.

"Bloody fine job, Harry! Little Ronnie never told me you were a warder – and a damn clever one, too! If I didn't know better, I'd say you spent some time in the field curse-breaking or something!" _Well, I spent quite a fair bit of time plundering the treasures of Eastern Europe, so I'll take that as a compliment. You aren't without your own skill, Weasley._ Tom responded in Harry's head.

"Yeah, well, I've taken to reading up a bit on wards, they're pretty fascinating, I think." Harry said without giving away too much.

"Read up a little bit? The only one I know who can do blood wards like those – so that only you can release the effects – is Dumbledore himself! In fact, I copied that particular scheme into my copy of Golinard's Field Curse-Breaking Manual – it would have been useful in a few occasions I can think of. I won't ask as I know you probably won't tell me, but I think I need to thank the Headmaster for that trick." Harry smiled and shrugged as though to intimate that Bill was correct – though truthfully it was merely one of the Headmaster's many books that Harry had learnt it from. Voldemort had more than a passing knowledge of blood magic – taught to him by an Albanian Vampire named Bashkim, in fact – but had been more interested in Dark curses and powerful rituals than protective wards at the time.

"Well, Bill, are you ready for the press conference? I can't think of anything else we can do to prepare." Harry said, inspecting the grand podium. Banners supporting the Harpies and Puddlemere were erected the previous evening, and both teams' colors riddled the stage, an interestingly nauseating blend of blue, green, gold, harpies, and bulrushes. Harry thought that all of the pomp that the two teams thought this press conference might generate was being overestimated, but Einion Llewellyn wanted it all, and the man's family was long known for getting what they want; they were as influential as Malfoys in the world of Quidditch.

"I think that's all we can do, Harry. Wait for the Aurors to arrive, then the Quidditch people, and then Katie and Ron so you can key everybody into the wards, and by that time we'll be about ready to start the show. I'll be hidden in the audience, Fleur too, if there's trouble." Bill just finished walking away when the first batch of Aurors did arrive. With them were Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks, just as Harry's requested.

"Wotcher, Harry!" Tonks said brightly with a wave. She was wearing the red Auror cape, so Harry supposed she was to be one of the Aurors on display.

"We're the four who'll be near the podium. Shack and Livingston there will be out on display, Proudfoot and I'll be behind the stage in case of trouble. I know Dawlish and Savage are two of the Aurors who'll be undercover in the crowd." She informed. Harry nodded as he began to adjust the wards to allow those four access.

"Anyone check to see if Dawlish has been Confunded lately?" He asked sarcastically, causing Kingsley to smirk.

"I checked him myself, Harry, just as you asked," He replied in his deep bass voice, amusement present. "A little curious as to why I was checking, but he was fine." Tonks cast a few revealing spells on the podium and whistled appreciatively.

"Crickey, Harry, look at the warding on this thing! Did Bill Weasley help you out?" Harry smirked at her, finished with the adjustment.

"But of course…after all, little old me can't possibly have come up with such an advanced scheme…" Bill took the opportunity to join in the conversation.

"I added a few things, but that one was mostly your own work. Which books did you say you read about those wards in?" He asked curiously.

"I didn't. But I think they're pretty rare." Bill raised an eyebrow at his evasion, but the Aurors, not knowing much about wards and their complexity, moved on to talk with Harry about likely battle plans.

"Right, Harry, so first priority is to get you three kids to safety. You three will Apparate away immediately to…you know where. We'll get the Quidditch folks and the Ministry people to the emergency Portkey in the back of the tent next. They're priority two, people. Finally we will open the tent for the public. The four Aurors outside are tasked with distracting any potential threat and ushering the public towards the tent once it opens. Livingston and I will join those four outside while Proudfoot and Tonks work inside the tent to get those people away to safety in the Ministry. Harry, do you understand that you are not to stay here and fight?" Kingsley said seriously.

"Of course, Kingsley. I have to get Ron to safety, after all, and look after Katie. I won't put their lives in danger." Harry responded with a somber face. All of this planning seemed unreasonable even a week ago, but Snape's recent reconnaissance indicated that the Dark Lord was indeed planning an attack on the well-publicized Hogsmeade announcement. The streets of Hogsmeade were getting increasingly crowded with students hopping between shops and a slightly larger than normal number of adults – likely anticipating the press conference.

"Harry Potter! My boy, how are you?" Einion said in a tone frighteningly reminiscent of Slughorn as he walked up. Harry smiled and nodded appreciatively.

"Einion, great to see you again, of course! I must say, those new Nimbus brooms are really something; we've been out flying on them a few times now. Doesn't have the top speed of the Firebolt, but I really think it might actually be better for Beaters – the thicker handle gives a bit sturdier base than the Firebolt, you know, better platform to Beat from." Harry said complimentarily. Gwenog Jones had showed up halfway through his speech and grinned at him.

"Quite true, Harry! I use the Nimbus 2500 in place of my older Firebolt. The 'bolt is good for Seeking and Chasing, but Beating's more about sending the Bludgers off quickly." Gwenog said. She was lazily carrying her Beater bat over her shoulder – a trademark for her, and had her other arm around Gwendolyn Morgan when she strode up. The older woman nodded politely at Harry, while Philbert Deverill, much more formal than any of the others, shook his hand. None of the Quidditch people had been informed of the extreme likelihood of an attack, just been told that Harry was a high-priority target for Voldemort. Harry began adjusting the wards for all of the new arrivals, and had just finished when more guests showed up.

"Mr. Potter, good to see you again! Quite the press conference organized around you today!" Rufus Scrimgeour said when he strode up, Percy Weasley by his side. Einion Llewellyn thankfully took the lead with the Minister and accosted him before he could really dig into Harry.

"Minister Scrimgeour, what a pleasure!" Einion begins with pleasantries, "Oh, of course I'll be coming to your little seminar!" The Minister nodded and said something, after which Einion loudly proclaims, "Of course, I think our young Mr. Potter is quite gifted in many ways – one of the reasons I recruited him, of course!"

"Harry!" Katie walked up with Ron and Hermione close behind. Ron held a large bag full of Honeyduke's chocolate while it appeared that Hermione spent her time and money at Scrivenshaft's quill and ink shop. Katie had small packages from both stores, as well as Gladrag's Wizardwear.

"Hey guys, let me adjust the wards for you two…" Harry said as he began the final addition to the ward exemptions. Hermione looked curiously at his wand work, but made no comment.

"Harry, I can't believe that you've been working with Bill this whole time, and haven't even visited the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer or something!" Ron said; Hogsmeade trips always made Ron fairly excitable, and the pre-Christmas trip especially so. He likely had completed all of his shopping in Honeydukes, if the past was any good indication.

_I wonder what Hermione will think of that. She's probably expecting a ring…_Harry almost laughed at the thought of Ron giving Hermione a ring, but Tom probably wasn't too far off the mark. The two hadn't officially "dated" yet, since this Hogsmeade weekend was so busy and they hadn't had a chance, but they were more often seen together, sometimes even holding hands. And Ron was quite more likely to have a goofy grin on his face at all hours of the day. Harry was also pleasantly surprised to find that, while the number of fights between the two hadn't stopped, the duration was noticeably shorter, and it often ended with them leaving for a few hours and coming back with ruffled hair. So far he supposed that things were going well with his friends.

"Oh, well, it's been fun to learn from Bill, he's quite knowledgeable and pretty devious with these wards. Of course, I don't understand most of what's going on, but he's been good at explaining it to me." Harry said with an easy smile. Hermione immediately began in on questioning which runes were used and in what order and a multitude of other questions, but Harry was saved again by Einion's arrival.

"Ah, if it isn't my wonderful little flyers! Come, come, you three need to come into our tent and get those uniforms on! Hurry now, the press is watching. Good day, miss!" He called to a somewhat put out Hermione who attempted to follow them. Katie sidled up next to Harry inconspicuously while Ron and Einion talked excitedly.

"I know you know more about that ward scheme than you let on, Mr. Potter." She said quietly.

"Perhaps I do, Ms. Bell. Perhaps I can get you a copy of said scheme." Katie's eyes lit up in excitement.

"If you do that, I'll be sure to give you a proper reward, Mr. Potter." She said with a smirk as a huge flash went off, causing them both to jump and Harry to summon his wand to his hand immediately. Fortunately, it was just a camera flash. Unfortunately, the photographer was accompanied by Rita Skeeter.

"Harry! Oh my, it's been so long, we simply _must_ do lunch some time! Oh, how you've grown since I last saw you, too...Dick, definitely get a few photos of just Potter for Witch Weekly. I'd bet he'll make the cover." She said to her photographer, dropping her sickly sweet voice for one of a harsh, demanding tone for just an instant. She looked back at Harry and her smile once again leaked sweetness.

"Now, all this excitement over Quidditch! How do you ignore the constant calls for 'the Chosen One' to do something about You-Know-Who enough so that you can focus on the silly game, Harry? Do you think public entertainment more important than combatting the Dark Lord? Or are you really just after the money and fame that the sport brings?" Harry resolutely ignored Rita's questions as he grabbed Katie and hurried over to the tent, preventing the girl from cursing the reporter.

"Ugh, that bitch!" Katie called once they reached the inside; it was, thankfully, Silenced.

"Don't worry about her, let's get you into a Harpies uniform." Harry said diplomatically. He put his own Puddlemere jersey on overtop his dueling robes - in case of attack, he certainly didn't want to be without them, after all - and accompanied Ron near the corner with Gwenog Jones.

"See, boys, that's why I always carry my Beater's bat with me in public. Skeeter gets fresh and just whollop her a little!" The rather vicious woman said with a decidedly crazy glint in her eye as the students made their way backstage ready to emerge.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, as I'm sure you all know I am Einion Llewellyn, proud owner of the Holyhead Harpies and Puddlemere United Quidditch Organizations. One of the most important duties that Quidditch teams have, of course, is preparing future generations for the sport. To this end, I've always been a proud sponsor of the Quidditch International Junior Leagues, where the best of our kids can go to train with the current professionals and hone their skills. This year, I have the honor of announcing three children who will go to the Leagues thanks to my organizations.

"The Holyhead Harpies are going to sponsor Gryffindor Chaser Kathryn Bell, and Puddlemere United is going to sponsor Keeper Ronald Weasley and Seeker...Harry Potter!" Einion finished to raucous applause as the kids emerged on the stage to pose next to the Managers and Einion; Gwenog was seated towards the back of the stage with Minister Scrimgeour, Percy Weasley, and Ludo Bagman. Out in the audience, Harry smiled as he saw Mrs. Weasley with Bill, Ginny, and the twins - resplendent in acid-green dragonhide jackets - cheering in the crowd. He also made out Mad-Eye Moody, his eye spinning wildly looking for imminent danger. He smiled at the familiar faces and was almost growing relieved that it seemed the threat of attack was over.

'CRACK' 'CRACK' 'CRACK'

The familiar cracks of amateur Apparation sounded as men in black cloaks and white or silver masks emerged onto the scene. "_Crucio!_" The wards around the podium flared up in brilliant gold as Harry's overpowered _Absolvo_ shield barely held up agains the power of the Unforgivable. Harry mentally cursed and grabbed Ron, attempting to haul him and Katie back to the tent. Two Death Eaters who had Apparated onstage and approached the podium too closely soon regretted it as they were flung back. They hit the roof of a nearby building and hung limply from it, suspended by the chains and cords that Harry and Bill created.

"Aaaah!" Harry heard the sound of a familiar female voice cry out in pain - Tonks! He glanced back and saw that three Death Eaters were visible behind the stage where Tonks had been, all of them casting, though one didn't seem to be focused on the Auror. Harry felt a brief tingle as some sort of magic passed over him, and immediately grabbed Ron and Katie and attempted to Apparate them to safety according to the plan. He turned on the spot, but nothing happened.

_Damn! Anti-Apparation Jinx!_ Harry thought viciously.

"Ron, Katie, get to the tent and Portkeys. I'll help Tonks!" He left his friends near the entrance to the tent and dove off the back of the stage.

"_Reducto!_" Harry led off, merely attempting to get the attention away from Tonks. It worked rather well, and the two who were previously attacking the Auror - where was the other one? - looked up at him and took aim. Their masks were white, not the telltale silver of an Inner Circle Death Eater. Harry dodged their poorly aimed Cruciatus Curses and sent a silent _Confringo_ directly between them. Both assailants went flying from the blast, one hitting the wards on the stage and getting thrown back a considerable distance. Harry fired off one of his modified Stunning Spells at the other and hurried over to Tonks.

"Harry," she said weakly as she got up. She appeared to have been hit in the face with a bludgeoning curse of some kind, as well as likely hit by one or more Cruciatus curses. "What are you still doing here? Get going, now!"

"Anti-Apparation Jinxes, Tonks, I sent Ron and Katie away via Portkey, but I had to help you first. Where's your partner?" He said, helping her towards the tent.

"Ran off to the front of the stage when all the commotion started. Could 'a used his help, I think." Harry smirked - still in good humor, that was a good sign. He opened the tent to find havoc inside - a silver masked Death Eater was dueling both Ron and Katie.

"_Crucio!_" The man said savagely as he sent a curse at Katie, who was already on the ground. He laughed as he sidestepped a curse from Ron. Harry saw red as his girlfriend writhed in agony under a curse he knew all to well, and he shot off one of the curses from Grindelwald's book that he'd yet to test.

"_Afflagrans!_" He said as a blast of fire shot out of his wand at the Death Eater. It was considerably stronger than a mere _Incendio_, it seemed, and the Death Eater was forced to shield himself to avoid getting cooked - Ron immediately grabbed Katie and helped her up, the two of them heading towards the exit.

"Well if it isn't the Golden Boy! I think I'll -" What he would do, Harry never found out as he broke through the Death Eater's shield with a verbal "_Sectumsempra!_" that popped the shield like a bubble and sheared the man's mask off; the Death Eater avoided decapitation by less than an inch. Beneath the mask was Rookwood, a former Unspeakable recently escaped from Azkaban. Tom remembered him to be a formidable duelist and a Master of Transfiguration. Harry dodged his return curse - bright yellow, possibly a Bone-Shattering curse, and decided to return a similar spell.

Grindelwald had been very interested in spells concerning bones, it seemed, and had modified several common dueling spells for increased power, lethality, and pain. Harry almost snarled as he silently released _Osdetero_, possibly the most vicious of the bone-related spells in the grimoire. The sickly yellow curse hit Rookwood - the man's reflexes slowed by his stint in Azkaban, apparently - in the left shin as he dove to the right. He screamed in agony as his bone was first shattered into pieces, some of them breaking through the skin of his leg, and then pulverized into splinters. Tonks quickly stunned the man before shooting Harry a look.

"Where the bloody hell did you learn that one?" Tonks asked, impressed. Harry shot off a blue stunner at the Death Eater before answering.

"Dumbledore's private library. I've...never used it before. Bit gruesome, eh?" He attempted to smile, but truthfully felt a little sick, seeing that curse in action.

"Yeah...what's the incantation and wand movement?" Tonks asked excitedly. Harry chuckled before joining his friends outside. If possible, the scene was even more chaotic.

Small fires were visible on every nearby building, evidence of missed curses. Even with the Order members battling valiantly, the Death Eaters seemed to have a slight advantage. Moody could be seen towards the opposite end of the stage battling a silver masked Death Eater, and Kingsley towards the middle combatting two in white masks. Professor McGonagall stood next to Remus Lupin as their opponents were beset by a striking variety of transfigured animals - including an entire pack of wolves - and a variety of curses from Lupin. The non-Order Aurors each were dueling one Death Eater, and Bill Weasley seemed to be losing ground to a silver-masked Inner Circle member. Fred and George were standing around their mum, Ginny, and several other younger Hogwarts students - Harry could make out the Creevey brothers - valiantly sending many varied curses and jinxes towards the white-masked Death Eater attempting to terrorize the students. Apparently they had been replacements, because Harry saw who he thought were Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood laying still near the students. Hermione seemed to have joined up with Katie and Ron, and the three of them had encircled two Death Eaters in white masks, who were frantically shielding and dodging as the friends closed the circle. Near the stage itself were Percy Weasley and Minister Scrimgeour alongside Gwenog Jones valiantly defending against four Death Eaters, protecting Einion, Philbert, and Gwendolyn along with Ludo Bagman from the curses. Gwenog could be seen using her wand defensively as she hefted her Beater bat and moved closer to the attacking Death Eaters.

"Tonks, go help the Minister and Percy and get those Quidditch and Ministry people to safety. I'll go help Fred and George get the students out of here." Harry said in a commanding voice. He veritably flew towards the twins before flinging the inexperienced Death Eater against the wall with a satisfying crunch; he stayed down, but Harry hit him with one of his stunning curses anyway.

"Alright, you all get out of here now! Passageway through Honeyduke's to Hogwarts. Let Dumbledore know, so he can send Flitwick and some other teachers or something." Harry said, moving to help his three best friends while keeping an eye on the twins' departure. When he saw the twins emerge alone a few moments later, he nodded and joined his friends as the twins set off to cause mayhem among the Death Eaters as they frivolously tossed objects with a myriad of effects near the Death Eaters. One Death Eater had been knocked unconscious by Ron, so Harry hit it again just to be certain, and the other soon joined it when both Katie and Ron hit him with Bludgeoning Hexes that almost certainly broke every rib. Harry stunned him as well, before heading towards Tonks and the Minister. The Minister had torn apart the front of the stage to use as a barricade that was now blackened from spell damage. Tonks had joined them behind the barrier and was tossing curses out, so Harry decided to do a pincer attack.

He let loose with a series of tripping jinxes, flinging hexes, bludgeoning hexes, and his personal stunning spells that immediately overpowered the shield of one Death Eater and took him out of the battle. One of the remaining turned around to combat him while his allies concentrated on the Minister. When his foe unleashed a yelled, "_Crucio!_" Harry decided to fight fire with fire and unleashed another of Grindelwald's curses. "_Lacero!_" He called out. A forest green curse came out and hit his enemy in the chest. The Death Eater's robes were shred as lashings appeared as though from a scourge, splaying open his chest to the bone as Harry attempted to ignore the nausea he was feeling at causing that damage and sent a stunner at the prone, unmoving body of the now-fallen Death Eater. Grindelwald's curses, while frightfully effective, were rather graphic in their effects. That particular one he noted was used to make examples of prisoners in camps.

The two Death Eaters left between Harry and the Minister now realized that they were significantly outclassed, and activated what must have been hidden Portkeys on themselves as they suddenly disappeared. Tonks ushered Einion, Bagman, Philbert, Gwendolyn, and a resisting Gwenog to the tent, while Percy resolutely followed the Minister to the nearest Auror/Death Eater pair. Harry smirked at the excited look on Scrimgeour's face - it was apparent that his heart lay not behind a desk, but out in the field. A slam was heard across the square; when Harry turned his head, he saw Bill Weasley lying in a heap on the ground.

"_Avada -_" The silver-masked Death Eater began.

"Bill! _Impedimenta!_" Percy called frantically as he saved his brother. The Death Eater raised a shield and turned to face the advancing redhead replacing the one he'd defeated. Harry was about to join him when Kingsley's voice called out.

"Harry! Help Mad-Eye!" Indeed, Moody was now on the ground, his artificial leg severed at the knee, as he furiously rolled and shielded himself from the deadly curses his opponent flung. His age worked against him, though, as his opponent had clearly exhausted the old Auror by forcing him to dodge the deadly Killing Curses and wear himself out.

"_Telum Conicio!_" Harry said angrily from behind the Death Eater. The railroad spike, red hot, hit the black robed wizard in the right thigh, throwing him to the ground.

"Damn you, Potter!" Tom recognized the voice of Rastaban Lestrange, a Death Eater with a long grudge against Moody.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Harry immediately conjured up a sphere of marble that intercepted the deadly curse and exploded into powder. Several more immediately began circling his head like a mystical crown.

_Langlock! Levicorpus! Everbero!_ Harry said, releasing a simple chain of spells that was mostly avoided by the veteran Death Eater. Lestrange, his mouth now shut thanks to the spell from the Half-Blood Prince, let out a few spells that were noticeably weaker than the verbal spells he'd spouted off earlier. Apparently the fool was an amateur at nonverbal casting as well as Occlumency, as Harry was able to see precisely what his next action would be with a simple glance into his eyes. Finally the savage Death Eater was able to reverse the _Langlock_ curse and spoke again.

"Stop bloody moving, Potter!" Harry's glance into his eyes was enough to see Lestrange's plan a moment before it happened, but he was unable to prevent it as Lestrange yelled, "_Crucio!_", his wand pointed at Alastor's chest. Moody, unable to move quickly enough, was hit dead on and screamed in agony.

"_Flagro Flagello!_" Harry yelled, a whip of fire emerging from his wand as it had from Dumbledore's in the Ministry. He flung his whip at Lestrange and managed to wrap his wand arm in fire, the Death Eater screaming from his burns instead of Moody now, who lay silent. Harry saw the flash of a photographer's camera, but ignored it as he continued fighting.

"_Osdetero!_" Harry yelled only an instant after dispelling the fiery whip. He heard Lestrange yell, "_Ramicis!_" at the same time. Harry's yellow curse impacted Lestrange right in his chest, which exploded outward in an unholy display of gore as his ribs were pulverized. Lestrange's purple curse impacted against the barely present _Absolvo_ shield that Harry had managed to erect hastily with his ebbing energy. Lestrange's eyes widening beneath his mask, he muttered something unrecognizable before disappearing from a hidden Portkey. Harry's own eyes widened as the Dark curse impacted him and he felt his organs moving roughly inside of him. He knew they might be ruptured seriously, but had to tend to the others needing immediate care first.

"Alastor!" Harry yelled, running up to the unconscious Auror. Harry's hand tightened around the piece of shrapnel from the stage that he'd thoughtlessly summoned and he said, "_Portus_," before dropping the new Portkey onto Moody's still body and transporting him to Madam Pomfrey's Hospital Wing.

"Death Eaters, retreat!" Harry heard a voice - he thought it might have been either Rodolphus Lestrange or Avery - call out before all of the remaining bodies of the Death Eaters, even the unconscious ones, disappeared with the telltale 'whoosh' of a departing Portkey.

"Everyone alright?" Harry called out. Various replies were heard. Bill was Portkeyed away by an increasingly pale Harry, and Hermione, who'd likely had her hip broken by a Death Eater's Bludgeoning Hex, also requested one. Percy volunteered to fill out the paperwork to allow Harry to legally make a Portkey when he saw that Scrimgeour wasn't arguing with Harry's flagrant violation of that edict.

"I think that we should all head up to Hogwarts for a check over by the Medi-Witch there, just in case of any injuries unseen." Scrimgeour declared, eyeing Harry as he did so.

_Just as well, Harry. The press has returned._ Harry fought the urge to curse at Tom's observations and transfigured another piece of the stage shrapnel into a hula-hoop and said, "_Portus_" one more time. This time, he visibly wavered before saying, "Everybody hold on." The large group of remaining students, Aurors, and Order members all placed their hands before zooming off to land in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, where Harry prompted fell to the ground and did not get up.

Kudos to the first reviewer to identify the story of origin for "Golinard's Field Curse-Breaking Manual".


	12. The Prophet's Tale, Seminar

**A/N:** Kudos to BenjiSim, the first reviewer to correctly identify the source of Golinard's Curse-Breaking Manual; mathiasgranger was a very close second-place. All three of jbern's stories are fantastic, and "Bungle in the Jungle", particularly, is one of the most unique and entertaining reads I've had in a while. Good work, reviewers. As always, I appreciate each and every review, and they really do inspire me to get those chapters out faster. Thanks,

-Kevin

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Twelve: The Prophet's Tale, Seminar

_**Press Conference Terror!**_

_Chaos reigned in Hogsmeade yesterday at a much-anticipated Quidditch press conference. Einion Llewellyn, heir to the Llewellyn fortune and benefactor of the Dai 'Dangerous' Llewellyn St. Mungo's Creature-Induced Injuries Ward, announced his intent to sponsor three Hogwarts students at the Quidditch Junior Leagues. Einion, of course, is the rather vocal owner of England's own Puddlemere United and Holyhead Harpies teams, both of which are heavily drawn from for the English National Team. Seventh year Gryffindor Chaser Katie Bell was the pick for the Harpies, while sixth year Gryffindor Keeper Ron Weasley and Seeker Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, will be representing Puddlemere. _

_In the midst of the announcement, however, Death Eaters Apparated into Hogsmeade and proceeded to fire Unforgivable curses at the stage, which was apparently warded against such an attack. In the panic, little is known about the ensuing battle except that Aurors present were dueling Death Eaters in addition to several citizens. Minister Scrimgeour and his assistant Percival Ignatius Weasley were said to have held off four Death Eaters while protecting Einion and the Quidditch team Managers, while Harpies Beater Gwenog Jones was said to have attacked a Death Eater with her Beater bat._

_"We did not expect an attack, of course, but the threat of one was taken very seriously. To that end, we took many precautions that seemed adequate to deal with the attack," Minister Scrimgeour announced in a public statement. It seems that the extra Aurors and warded stage were meant as such precautionary measures that certainly seemed to be appropriate._

_The biggest surprise, however, was none other than the Boy-Who-Lived displaying phenomenal dueling skills. Pictured above is merely one example, where Mr. Potter is shown with the upper hand against a silver-masked Death Eater. Perhaps this paper was not far off the mark when it labeled Harry Potter as the Chosen One, for he certainly seems to be displaying skill far beyond what one would expect of a mere schoolboy._

_**Boy-Who-Lived Displays Dark Magic Proficiency!**_

_By Rita Skeeter, Gossip Columnist_

_Why hello my loyal readers! The venerable quill of Rita Skeeter here, giving you the truth about that dreadful press conference! It was at that terrible press conference, where Death Eaters attempted to attack the integrity of the sport of Quidditch, that we got a long glimpse into the character of the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. Mr. Potter was certainly not content to allow trained professionals – Aurors stationed by the Ministry to subdue any Dark Wizard attacks – to complete their job without interference. Instead, he got in the way of several Auror battles nearly causing the death of several as he recklessly lashed out with vicious attacks against surprised Death Eaters._

_The fame he garnered from successfully competing in the Tri-Wizard Tournament seems not enough for Potter, who seemed to use Darker magic than even the Death Eaters in his attacks. Indeed, this author was shocked at the gruesome nature of many of the curses wielded by Potter, the effects of which certainly do not bear repeating, but are in fact the subjects of nightmares._

_When the question of where he obtained the knowledge of Dark Magic, one surely need not look past the Headmaster of Hogwarts school, Albus Dumbledore. Long considered addled by respected peers and prominent wizards of the day, it seems that Dumbledore may actually be teaching such barbaric magic to young children in response to the threat of You-Know Who. This author, however, has to ask whether the price of our children's innocence is one we are willing to pay to combat the forces of You-Know-Who. Are we really prepared to have an army of followers under the command of Dumbledore and lead by Harry Potter?_

Harry felt like he was floating, floating through darkness, until he realized that there was something beyond the darkness. He moved to the edge of the darkness, his eyes barely registering the presence of the wall that his hands were running along. He was in a room? Where was this room?

_Tom, do you know what happened?_ Harry asked his ever-present companion. Usually Tom was more than happy to comment, more often than not on the derriere of a particularly attractive seventh year girl as she passed, but Harry found himself alone with his thoughts for the first time in months. What happened to Tom? What did he remember?

_Let me think...we got jerseys...and broomsticks...from Quidditch teams, some guy named Einion? And there was the press conference! The Weasley family was there to support me and Ron, and Katie was next to me._ Harry suddenly remembered the attack. _Death Eaters! I saved Tonks! Then, I fought Rookwood...his leg exploded from one of Grindelwald's curses. And I fought a bunch of other Death Eaters, too...stunned them. And then Lestrange, he was fighting Moody! I put a spike through his leg, and had him wrapped up in a fire whip; then..._Harry nearly vomited in his little room when the memory of Rastaban Lestrange's chest exploding outward in a hellish spray of blood hit him like a Bludgeoning Curse to the head, courtesy of Moody.

_Moody wasn't moving after Lestrange's curse...I had to finish him off so I could help Moody._ Harry thought vehemently. Another voice in his head - his conscience, not a sixty-year old former Dark Lord - whispered dejectedly, _But you could have stunned him._

_Stunning wouldn't have worked! He was a Death Eater, and sending deadly curses at me!_ Harry argued.

_But you sent curses just as deadly right back at him. What's the difference between you and Lestrange, anyway?_ His conscience said icily. Why did it sound oddly like Hermione?

_Lestrange started it! He was going to kill Moody!_ Harry said, outraged.

_And you nearly killed several Death Eaters, including Rookwood. The Aurors were using Stunning Curses._ This voice was rather persistent.

_Tonks wanted me to teach her that Bone Pulverizing Curse of Grindelwald's, I just didn't have a chance. They were allowed to use Unforgivables in the last war._ Harry defended.

_You're not an Auror, Harry. Even if you were, they haven't been authorized to use Dark Magic yet either. That's why you're in jail._ His consciousness said haughtily, and seemed to turn away from him as Hermione would often do if she knew his argument was better.

_You're barmy, I'm not in...wait a minute! Is that why this room is so dark, and I can't open the door? Where is this bloody door, anyway? Am I in Azkaban? Hello! Hermione!_ But his head was devoid of extraneous people once more, and he was alone to deal with his situation.

A light shined down upon him from above, and he raised his hand to avoid the bright light from totally blinding him, his eyes used to the darkness. But the darkness was no more...instead, he was in the massive trial chamber as he was before his fifth year. The entire Wizengamot seemed to stare down harshly at him from their raised seats, and an executioner – just like the one who was supposed to have killed Buckbeak – stood on the same level as him, carrying a cruel axe.

"Harry Potter, you have been brought here on charges of being a danger to Wizarding Society and succumbing to the Dark! What have you to say for yourself?" Amelia Bones asked harshly. Harry could clearly make out the angry visages of Dolores Umbridge and Minister Fudge in their positions next to Director Bones, just where they'd sat at his last trial.

"Succumbing…? I was fighting the Death Eaters!" Harry said with objection.

"The use of Dark magic, even against Dark Wizards, is Unforgivable. We do not support vigilantes, Mister Potter." Madam Bones said firmly. She strongly reminded Harry of McGonagall, before Harry had managed to impress and charm the teacher.

"I wasn't being a vigilante, Director Bones. I was attacked, along with the rest of the public at the press conference, and was forced to defend myself. The Minister himself was there, along with several Aurors –" He began before interrupted.

"And therefore the situation was obviously quite in hand without your evil curses!" Umbridge spoke up, speaking harshly to the former student she despised.

"What, you just expected me to sit there while Voldemort's," he ignored the jump from Fudge and Umbridge and the slight sign of discomfort from Bones, "forces lay waste to your Aurors?" He demanded harshly, losing patience with the ignorant politicians.

_What do they know, anyway? Why bother defending your actions to them? You should use whatever magic you can!_ A small, angry voice inside of Harry said. Where were all these bloody voices hiding? Harry briefly wondered if Tom had set up some kind of orgy hidden in Harry's head, and that thought almost put a smile on his face, despite the serious proceedings.

"That is the prescribed Ministry protocol, Mister Potter. Fighting with Dark Wizards will only antagonize them. Of course, yourself being a Dark Wizard, you're probably only barely reining in your own desire to unleash your nasty curses on me. Go ahead, Potter, raise your wand!" She said in a frantic voice, her eyes crazed staring at him.

"That is enough, Madam Umbridge. We shall secure Mister Potter in case he can't reign in his urges." Madam Bones said evenly, as chains appeared around Harry's wrists despite his lack of struggling. He was now quite unable to move from his chosen spot in the light, and when he tried taking a step forward, the chains tightened painfully on his ankle. That angry voice was getting livid.

_Strike them down, Harry! You don't need a wand, anger will fuel your magic! Remember when you blew up your aunt Marge, how good it felt afterward, how powerful! The _Sectumsempra_ Curse will break these chains. Then we can get a wand and get out of here!_ Harry resisted the voice and calmed his slightly riled emotions with the help of his Occlumency. Little wonder the Dark Lord was worse at Occlumency than he was Legilimency, as Tom mentioned, if he had an angry inner voice like Harry seemed to.

_I wonder if this means that I'm going crazy. Isn't it sad that it takes more than one extra voice in my head to convince me?_ Harry thought wryly.

"Now, Mister Potter, explain your familiarity with Dark Magic." Madam Bones continued.

"I've been fighting Death Eaters and Voldemort himself since I was a year old, Madam Bones. I've had to learn to defend myself from them." Harry responded. It was odd, that the only person who had yet to speak, or even move at all, was the executioner nearby. Harry wondered if it was MacNair.

"Defend yourself by brutally attacking them? In what way does impaling them defend yourself, Mr. Potter?" Madam Bones asked cuttingly.

"It prevents them from dodging my later spells, Madam Bones." Harry said, somewhat chastised. In his defense, it was a very useful spell that most shields were not effective against.

"I see…so Mr. Lestrange would have been unable to dodge had you, for instance, decided to attempt to stun him?"

"Yes, that is true, but stunning spells are really easy to block with a shield, so –"

"So you were forced to use a spell that would overpower a shield." Bones finished.

"Yes, that is correct."

"So you naturally used a Dark spell learned from the Dark Lord Grindelwald, a spell that causes the bones of the targeted area to erupt from the body and explode into splinters, is that correct, Mr. Potter?" Harry fought the urge to shudder as he saw Lestrange's face when his entire chest exploded.

"I did cast that spell. It was an effective way to put down a Death Eater who'd fought and nearly killed ex-Auror Alastor Moody –"

"Why not just use a Killing Curse, Mr. Potter? Or the Cruciatus, which is extremely effective at penetrating shields?" Madam Bones asked, interrupting Harry once more.

"I have never cast the Killing Curse, Madam Bones, and the last time I attempted the Cruciatus, I was also unable to do so properly." Harry said without emotion.

"But you have attempted to cast the Cruciatus, and are therefore a Dark Wizard!" Umbridge burst out.

"I believe you also attempted to use the Cruciatus on me, Madam Umbridge; at least I attempted it on a Death Eater who'd just murdered my godfather in front of my eyes." Harry said coldly to the horrid woman.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter, I have one more question." Madam Bones said with a smirk on her face. "Does not your modified stunning spell also penetrate shields nearly as effectively as the Cruciatus Curse?" Harry was actually speechless for the first time, unable to come back with an effective retort. _You didn't cast it because he deserved the pain, Harry. And you knew it, and had the power to show him what he deserved._ The angry voice said haughtily.

"I…not quite, but it is an effective spell for penetrating shields." He finally said numbly.

"I see, Mr. Potter. It seems, then, that we have no choice but to let the judge decide." Madam Bones said before the high seats of the Wizengamot darkened to blackness, leaving only the executioner alone with Harry. The executioner finally moved for the first time, his dark hood pulled back to reveal…Tom!

"Hello, Harry." The soft baritone voice that Harry was so intimately familiar with said.

"Tom! What the heck is going on here? None of this can be real!" Harry said defensively. He hadn't even noticed that the chains around him disappeared with the Wizengamot.

"Of course it's real, Harry, why wouldn't it be?" Tom asked, resting his hands on the top of the massive executioner's axe.

"First of all, you only exist in my head…and this scene, it was kind of like my trial a few years ago. And Madam Bones and Umbridge are both dead! How can it be real?" Harry demanded. Ever since he'd woken up, nothing made sense. It seemed that new voices were trying to appeal to him to behave certain ways…

"Just because it's in your head, doesn't mean it isn't real, Harry. And yes, you are tempted by your inner demons. You always will be, I'm afraid, Harry." Tom said, looking seriously at Harry.

"So I have Hermione and a psychopath battling for dominance in my head? You know, that actually doesn't sound too crazy, considering that I had Voldemort in my head all of last year, and Hermione usually is talking in my ear, which isn't that different from being in my head." Harry said, smirking for the first time. Tom, too, smiled appreciatively.

"So where do you fit into all of this, Tom? Why aren't you in my head, giving me advice like usual? Instead, the Wizengamot said you were the judge. Who made you the judge?" Harry was still confused about Tom's role in all this.

"I am merely playing the role assigned to me, Harry. That of the judge and jury, possibly the executioner." Tom quickly transfigured his robes into a set of dark navy dress robes and the axe became his wand.

"But who made you the judge? Why do you get to judge whether or not my actions make me a Dark wizard?" Tom smirked in a friendly manner.

"Besides the fact that I seem to be rather uniquely qualified, being a former Dark wizard myself? You made me the judge, Harry. You have, since becoming aware of me and friendly towards me, viewed me as a role model, a guide to base yourself against. Who better to judge you than the template upon which you are based?"

"I see. I suppose that's true, Tom, I think you do have a lot of the traits of the wizard I someday hope to be. So go ahead, judge me." Tom quirked his eyebrow at Harry's acceptance. "I don't enjoy using that magic, despite what the Wizengamot said. Do you honestly think I enjoyed watching Lestrange's chest explode? I won't shed any tears for him, as he's killed and tortured far too many people to warrant pity, but I certainly hated to be the one to do it. The feeling of that magic…it's not addictive, it's tainted, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth – though I suppose it might be the vomit that I'm forced to swallow again after seeing the effects of it. And if I'd seen anyone, supposed hero or not, use magic like that a year ago, I'd have called them a Dark wizard without listening to any arguments to the contrary. So judge me, tell me I've gone Dark and evil." Harry said, finishing rather quietly. He looked up when Tom put a hand on his shoulder.

"I would do that, Harry. If you were lying. Dark magic can be terribly addictive – it is the easy way, oftentimes. Far easier to cast a Killing Curse and be done, than go through all the paperwork at the Ministry for imprisoning a Death Eater, after all. But sometimes, when dealing with Dark wizards, it can be the only way, or maybe the only way that comes to mind in the heat of battle. Remember, Harry, that even the best of us lose our heads in the midst of battle on occasion. It takes a strong wizard to resist that allure, to lose yourself in anger and strike out when you hold a Death Eater at your mercy; you must be that strong wizard, Harry, as I know you can be. I wasn't, and you know far too well the fallout from my descent into Darkness." Tom put his arm on Harry's shoulder in a brotherly fashion and smiled, a distinct glint of a cruel joke in his eye that made Harry nervous.

"Now, Harry, you must wake up. After all, you can't miss Professor Slughorn's Christmas party!" Harry shot Tom a look of disgust before he faded from Harry's sight and instead, Madam Pomfrey's bosom was pressed into Harry's face as she leaned over him.

"Ugh!" He said partly in pain and partly at the awkwardness of the situation.

"Mister Potter, you're awake! I wasn't expecting consciousness from you for another day, at least!" She said, jumping back. Harry found himself bared from the waist up, and covered in white wrappings all along his midsection.

"Yeah, well I had a bit of help with that," he said, eliciting an odd look from Madam Pomfrey that he ignored.

_It's good to have you back in the land of the living, Harry._ Tom said genially. Maybe it wasn't the horcrux in his dream, but just his own mind?

_Tom, how'd we do?_ Harry asked.

_Well, Harry, it appears that I stay conscious without you, so I've had a day and a half of boredom. It's Sunday night, in case you wondered, and let me tell you that Slughorn has been here no less than fifteen times, hoping you'd be up for his party. Quite a few of your friends have been in and out of here to see you or others, of course. Bill and Alastor are both still here, and have both been up occasionally. It seemed that no permanent injuries were sustained. Tonks, Hermione, Neville, and Luna were both here for some time but are gone now. Katie's only left your bed a few short times – she even lay next to you for awhile, but try as I might I couldn't control your body as I wanted to._ Tom said this last part with a grin, while Harry only rolled his eyes.

"Harry, is that you?" Alastor's voice sounded quite weak and his age was definitely showing.

"Alastor, how are you feeling?" Harry asked, looking at one of his mentors.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked somewhat breathlessly. Harry blinked a few times before responding, surprised by the question.

"I was fighting Rastaban after he'd incapacitated you, and got injured." Harry responded; perhaps the old Auror had some memory loss?

"I know that. I'm an old man with a gimp leg that was cursed off. You're a young, agile Quidditch star. Why the bloody hell were you hit?" He asked ferociously, ending in a hacking cough. _Is he bloody serious?_ Harry thought incredulously.

"Uh…I blew apart his chest, but he got one off quickly at the same time, and I was too tired after having fought a half dozen other Death Eaters to respond as quickly as I normally might have." Harry said somewhat wryly.

"Didn't you learn anything this summer? Never let your guard down at the end of a duel! Good Merlin, I have a lot of work left to do with you, boy!" Harry fought a grin at Mad-Eye's despairing tone that sounded oddly sincere, and probably was, shook his head – unfortunately causing pains to shoot through his body as his abdominal area shifted slightly.

"I'm glad you're okay too, Alastor." He finally said.

"Three cardiac arrests! Not to mention a limb he was lucky he only had to lose again! And you think he's okay? Man'll be on strengthening potions for a month – two, if I have my say!" It seemed Madam Pomfrey had returned and was shoving potions – hopefully at least one some form of pain reliever – down Harry's throat.

"Ha! A month my bloody arse, Poppy! Get me a cane until I can get a new leg, I'll be fine. Need to get up and stretch the old muscles anyway, I say." Moody's voice, however, betrayed the weakness he must have been feeling and he hadn't even attempted to rise from the bed.

"Alastor, you watch your language, this is a school for children, not ornery retired Aurors! And if you even think about rising from that bed, I'll sedate you and put you in a Full-Body Bind curse – I read about your trip to St. Mungo's, you know!" _That sounds like it could be an interesting story…_

"And Potter, Professor Slughorn has insisted upon your presence at his party tonight, so I will allow you to make a short appearance. You will be confined to a wheelchair and you will be restricted so that you can't move your abdomen, which would only hurt and possibly injure you further. You've a long road to recovery still, but you may be well enough for a few short trips out of my Wing. If you abuse that privilege, I will quite happily strip it from you. Now, Ms. Bell is here to see you. Let me put that spell on you now…" She cast a spell and Harry felt his abdomen stiffen slightly – causing him to wince in pain – and then he couldn't move it at all. She also cast a Cushioning charm on him, which was lucky considering that a blonde blur assaulted him in a hug in what definitely would have been a painful manner without the charm. Katie didn't say a word to him, and didn't need to, as she simply crawled into his hospital bed and kept him wrapped in a hug, kissing his bared neck down to his upper chest lightly.

"Ahem. Ms. Bell, Mr. Potter is very sore and might not be up for much tonight. He will be allowed one hour in a wheelchair at Professor Slughorn's party, and then I am holding you responsible for getting him back here. Have a good evening." She said, turning to leave.

"Miss me?" Harry asked his affectionate girlfriend. She was still wrapped around him, but had ceased the kissing for merely snuggling up next to him.

"Yes, but I figure that I'll be spending a lot of time waiting for you to recover from your injuries, so I'm trying not to get too upset about it. You had also best know that if you forget to dodge a deadly curse again, I'll kill you." She patted his cheek gently as she said this. "I also definitely prefer you awake." She finally laid her head on Harry's upper chest, now attempting to avoid the Cushioning Charm. Harry just put his arm around her, stroking her back lightly. They lay like that a few moments before interrupted by an awoken Bill.

"Geez, Harry, I guess you do get the best service in here." He said with a slight smile. The curse-breaker was probably the most roughed up of the three, and Tom mentioned that Madam Pomfrey was forced to vanish and regrow many of the bones in his arms – Bill had been flung around violently when Rodolphus, and Harry was more and more certain it was him, toyed with him.

"Oh, I think your service will be pretty equivocal once you can withstand the attentions of a certain part-Veela." Bill chuckled appreciatively, obviously in some pain. Hearing him, Madam Pomfrey emerged and forced potions down his throat as she'd done to Harry. Katie slipped a robe, his black dress robe, over Harry's bandaged chest before helping him into the Muggle wheelchair provided by Madam Pomfrey. She rolled him down towards the dungeon, using a bit of magic to levitate him easily down the stairs while he half-heartedly complained.

"Seriously, Katie-kins, we can just go to the training room and I'll put up a Fidelius or something. Come on, snogging is way better than Slughorn's stupid party, anyway – they're boring! And Gwenog isn't even going to be there this time, so you won't enjoy it as much, either." He whined as she relentlessly plodded towards the Professor's quarters.

"Harry, my boy!" Slughorn called out in his usual excited tone for Harry's arrival. "Now, I heard _all_ about that terrible press conference, of course, but I'd be delighted to hear your spin on it as you tell it to a few friends I invited. I'm sure you heard all the rumors about a vampire coming tonight? All true, of course - Sanguini, interviewed by my old student Eldred Worple. And your friend Neville is being entertained by dear Griselda Popkin, a Brazilian Herbologist friend of mine, I think I mentioned her? Anyway, there are just so _many_ people I need to introduce you to!" Harry felt very much like a parade float following a a large balloon as Katie blissfully wheeled him around, the whole time whispering in his ear Slughorn impressions like, "Oh, dear, Harry, you simply _must_ try another of these Romanian Blood pastries...dear Sanguini simply _adores_ them..." Ron and Hermione, hidden away with Neville and Luna, thought it hilarious, but Harry was less than amused with the whole thing. Since he'd left her to go to them on her own from time to time, he supposed he deserved it; he also was satisfied to think that she could make it up to him later.

"Now, I was just telling Horace," Eldred Worple began as Harry ignored him, "_where_ is the biography of Harry Potter that we're all looking for. Vague mentions in famous wizards books? Oh dear me _no_, we need a proper book. And of course, it would simply fly off the shelves - the gold that could be generated is quite extraordinary. And if you would allow me, we could do the interviews in four to five hour blocks and we could be finished in a few months! I'd be thrilled, of course..." Worple continued on in a manner eerily similar to Slughorn's. Harry took the moment to study the vampire who was brought in, apparently from Romania if he followed the blood pastries.

Sanguini had pale, almost white skin that seemed stretched like a poor result of plastic surgery. His eyes were sunken, and the skin around the eyes themselves darkened to almost black. Voldemort's far too intimate knowledge of vampires - he'd lived among them for years in Albania - led Harry to conclude that Sanguini did not often feed upon humans. Human blood, particularly wizard blood, is far more nutritious to a vampire and those who have recently fed on wizard blood are nearly indistinguishable from humans themselves, in addition to being stronger and more vigorous. Of course, a vampire who prefers wizard blood would not likely be invited to a school of wizard children, no matter how famous he was.

"You can just ask Sanguini here, how painless the process is. Sanguini, where are you?" Not ten feet away, a young blonde girl with smooth skin happened to be bending her head to the side, giving Sanguini a perfect view of the side of her neck - unable to resist such temptation, the vampire had quickly made his way over to her and was caressing the girls' arms as she fell into his vampiric charm. She turned her head as she sensually pressed into Sanguini's chest, and Harry saw the familiar face of Luna Lovegood. Seeing Sanguini leaning down slightly - towards Luna's neck - Harry quickly fired off a slight Banishing Charm that removed Luna from Sanguini's grasp into the nearby Neville. Sanguini turned to the wheelchair-ridden boy who disturbed him, and his eyes were blood red in color as his fangs were bared. It was rather disturbingly reminiscent of a certain Dark Lord that Harry had faced off with.

The majority of the party had not noticed the disruption, but those around Harry cleared the way and formed a bit of a circle around Harry and Sanguini. Sanguini closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head, when he opened them once more, his eyes were white once more.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter...On occasion I find a bared neck to be rather tempting." Sanguini finally said with a pleasant accent lilting his deep voice. Harry merely nodded guardedly in response, but Luna was slightly more vocal.

"That's alright Mr. Sanguini, I don't mind attempts like that. I know that you just had a temporary infestation of the Blood-Leeching Nargles. They're a much more sinister variety that lives around Transylvania that Daddy taught me about. Minister Scrimgeour - he's a vampire too, of course - had a bout with them a few months ago. The Quibbler shocked a lot of people with that article." Luna declared, nodding her head seriously at this last declaration. Sanguini moved from beside the girl back near Eldred Worple and Harry, where Eldred handed him a pastry.

"Mr. Potter," Sanguini began as the filling - Harry only hoped it wasn't human blood - dripped a bit down his chin, "I have been hearing much about you. Some of it was...enlightening."

"I wasn't aware that I'd become so famous around Romanian Vampire colonies." Harry replied somewhat coldly. Several vampires had been quite supportive of Voldemort in the last war after he'd promised them "Mudblood-farms", and thus Harry was quite leery of trusting them.

"It wasn't you mentioned directly, Mr. Potter, but one with whom I'd imagine you are quite familiar. Not all of us support him, Mr. Potter. But I thought you might like to know that he recently took a trip to Albania. I know no more. If you'll excuse me." Sanguini slinked away towards the food table, leaving Harry alone with Worple and Katie.

"Pay him no mind, Harry, sometimes vampires get like that - impossible to understand them when they're so cryptic." Worple said, attempting to patch things over with Harry.

_A recent trip to Albania? What is there, Tom?_ Harry could only think of a few things, himself.

_Several possibilities. Knowledge of some Dark nature...Vampire supporters, perhaps...he very well may have reconnected with Bashkim, his old tutor._ Bashkim was a vampire from whom Voldemort had learned much of his Dark knowledge. The vampire had been so impressed with Voldemort that he'd even offered to turn him, which vampires consider a great honor; Voldemort grew offended and later outraged, and the two left on poor terms. Perhaps Voldemort had reconciled with him after his attempts on Harry's life? Either way, it was interesting news from the Romanian vampire, and Harry had much to consider.

"Katie, I'm feeling a bit tired...why don't we make our way to the Hospital Wing?" Harry suggested, not feeling much like participating in the rest of Slughorn's party. Katie smirked and wheeled him out of the room, passing by an angry Filch dragging Malfoy into the room by the ear. As soon as they got out of the room, Harry put his Invisibility Cloak - still carried with him at all times as per Dumbledore's instructions - over himself and Katie and put a silencing charm around them. He Disillusioned both of them and the wheelchair too, just in case their feet may have been slightly visible under the cloak. He was in luck, for Snape soon dragged Malfoy into a nearby classroom and Harry was able to hear them quite well and see them through a crack in the door.

"What do you think you were doing, Draco?" Snape demanded harshly.

"What does it matter to you? It's my plan and I'll -" Malfoy petulantly began before Snape cut him off.

"It was a foolish one, and poorly executed without any lookouts." Snape said evenly and somewhat more cooly than he usually spoke to his favorite student.

"Quit looking in my head!" Malfoy suddenly demanded. _So Snape doesn't know Malfoy's plan, and Malfoy wants to keep it to himself?_

"I see Aunty Bella has been teaching you Occlumency, Draco. What secrets do you need to hide from your Master?" Draco's eyes widened marginally before he regained his cold mask.

"I merely need to keep my secrets from you! You are not trusted by either Aunt Bella or the Master." None of this was news to Harry, who'd expected Snape's loyalty to be questioned by Voldemort as it had been by Harry himself.

"I gave an Unbreakable Vow that I would -" Harry's eyes widened at this and he was quite shocked; his own faith in Snape's loyalties wavered further.

"Well break it for all I care! I wouldn't even have been alone if you hadn't put Crabbe and Goyle in detention!" Malfoy snarled.

"Vincent and Gregory do not have good prospects of passing their Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.s this year either, if they do not study harder in my class." Snape replied in the same calm voice he lectured in. Harry had to say that Snape, despite all his many flaws, was an exceptional Occlumens to keep as tight a control on his temper as he usually did. Interactions with Harry aside, of course.

"What do we need Defense for, anyway? You should be teaching us the Dark Arts directly, if anything! It's all a charade until the Master takes over directly." Draco said pompously. For the first time, Draco's seeming ill health and lack of sleep were put aside as his arrogant demeanor reappeared on his face and posture.

"It is a crucial charade, if so. And judging by your present lack of success and failed attempts, I would be quite concerned should the Master take control any time soon. Your father, recently out of Azkaban, has been treated quite harshly for his failure, and your own is not reflecting well. I've heard rumors that the Master might kill your father and have you take his place in the Ministry if you succeed." Snape said; finally, this seemed to get through to Draco and he gasped, horrified.

"Wha-what? You're lying! That would never happen, f-father is far too valuable. And loyal! Not like you!" Draco was almost visibly shaking, now.

"I can help you, Draco, and make it safe for both of you. And Narcissa, too." Snape said, his hand on Draco's shoulder and his voice more gentle than Harry had ever heard.

"No! We won't do that. We couldn't, anyway. He's at our mansion, Snape, to keep a closer eye on mother and father. He's never trusted mother, of course, since she refused to take his Mark. And besides, Malfoy's don't hide!" Malfoy ended vehemently. Snape sighed.

"Very well, Draco, but know that I would be willing, and Albus would cast the spell. If you do not desire that, I can help you -"

"Just leave me alone, I'll do it myself!" Draco said, heading towards the door that Harry and Katie quickly came away from. Draco turned back in to head to Slughorn's party immediately after, while Snape turned the other direction and stormed off, passing through where Katie and Harry would have been if they hadn't crossed the hall. The pair continued in silence until near the Hospital Wing.

"Wow...what did you make of all that?" Katie whispered to Harry, who was discussing with Tom that very topic.

"There was a lot to make out...and less that made any sort of sense to me. We'll have to go over it in the morning, I think. Keep me company tonight?" He ended hopefully.

"Harry, Madam Pomfrey probably won't like that idea much." In response, he merely held up the Invisibility Cloak they'd taken off and smirked playfully. Minutes later found Harry in his bed and Katie next to him under the cloak.

"You two better not keep me up..." Moody muttered irritably.

Harry woke up late the next morning - his body calling for sleep to combat his internal injuries that were still healing - when Katie shook him gently. Apparently she'd already snuck back into Gryffindor tower, changed, and come back. It was the first official day of break, but with the extraordinary amount of students staying for the defense seminar the Hogwarts express was actually delayed for a day and was leaving that evening.

"Come on, Harry, Madam Pomfrey let me deliver your breakfast and then wants a full inspection." She said as he reluctantly awoke.

"Well, I have to teach the defense seminar, so its not like her inspection is all that meaningful..." Harry said, unfortunately overheard by Madam Pomfrey, who was tending Moody.

"What was that, Mr. Potter? I am perfectly willing to refuse to apply that immobilization charm, you know, young man! I'll not tolerate you taking my kindness for granted!" Her proclamation caused Moody to burst out laughing and Bill smiled appreciatively. Moody had already put her in a bad when, after she refused to allow him to attend the seminar, he quite seriously threatened to curse her and leave. Bill was the only one she remained in control over, as his own mother would finish the Death Eaters' task of killing him if he did any such thing. In any case, Fleur had apparently decided to visit and probably also wouldn't allow him to attend.

"Ze zeminar ees such a good idea, 'Arry! I only wish my Bill could come, and zen eet would be marvelous." Fleur said with a cute pout, looking at Bill. "But I zink zat we will find plenty to do in ze room alone." Bill's face split into a grin as he drew the part-Veela down for a snog.

"Well, that's my cue to be elsewhere, I think. Madam Pomfrey, I'm ready for that charm now so that I can inspect my classroom." Harry said with a smile. The matronly Medi-Witch bustled over and, after a scowl and a series of diagnostic spells, performed the desired charm.

"You seem to be healing well, Mr. Potter, but that does not give you free reign to get hit. You won't be out before Christmas if you end up in here again!" She threatened as Katie wheeled him away. He only flashed her a grin and gave her a wave.

"So are there many people here yet? I know it doesn't start for another fifteen minutes, but -" Harry began.

"I'm not sure how many people there are, Harry." She said in a curiously evasive manner. Harry wondered about it, but understood when the doors to the Great Hall opened. The tables were cleared away and the members of the D.A. wearing ostentatiously transfigured hats with "D.A." flashing in pink and green lettering that stank of Fred and George, but Harry was amazed by how many others there were present. Of course Minister Scrimgeour and Percy Weasley, both of whom were on their way to greet Harry, as well as the entirety of the teaching staff including Professor Dumbledore who were all sitting along one side of the Great Hall talking with several Aurors and Hit Wizards who were present. Almost the entirety of the rest of the Hall was filled - and it had been expanded by Professor Flitwick - as what must have been at least a thousand witches and wizards stood ready to learn. Many of the students were among these, and Harry was quite impressed with the turnout.

"Harry, good to see you doing alright. Gave us a bit of a scare when you collapsed on us." Minister Scrimgeour said when he finally arrived beside Harry, who was being wheeled to the stage that had been erected. Ron and Hermione were both already up there, waiting for Harry when he arrived.

"Yeah, well, my specialty is ending up injured after a big battle." Harry joked, which caused the Minister to chuckle appreciatively.

"And what a battle it was, Harry. I wasn't particularly concentrating on that final battle with Lestrange, so I couldn't have commented in the article, but from what I saw you were incredible. My compliments to any and all tutors you had!" Harry took a bit of a double-take at the mention of an article.

"An article, Minister? What article?" Scrimgeour seemed quite surprised and smiled nervously. Harry also saw Ron, Hermione, and Katie seem to look elsewhere when this was mentioned.

"Oh…well, the _Prophet_ had a bit of a write-up about the press conference. Nothing to worry about, of course. Mentioned you, a bit. Anyway, why don't you get started teaching, we can leave that unimportant bit for later." Scrimgeour said as he threw red sparks from his wand and a loud 'BANG!' sounded that got everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, your instructor Harry Potter!" Scrimgeour announced to applause in a magically magnified voice. Harry magnified his own voice to be heard and announced, "Alright, we're going to start with the basic shield charm; the incantation is '_Protego_'. If everyone will look to the nearest auror or D.A. member for proper demonstration, or look up here. Together now, those of us who know this one, _PROTEGO_." He shouted clearly. As soon as the shield formed, the entire room burst into applause and camera flashes went off. Harry rolled his eyes and glanced at a smiling Minister Scrimgeour. The teaching assistants then corrected all of the many participants, many of whom seemed to be more interested in Harry than actually learning. Harry was getting frustrated, but used his Occlumency along with Tom's prodding to subdue it viciously and remind himself that this was merely a political favor for Scrimgeour. Harry took the intermittent time between when he was actually forced to say anything to look out at the crowd. Over to the right he spotted a pink-haired Auror who had to be Tonks, and near her a graying man he spotted as Remus, also helping those around him to great effect. Katie, Ron, and Hermione were close to the stage helping that part of the crowd, as was Ginny, who appeared to be glancing at Harry every few seconds and would always return his glance with an energetic smile and a flip of her hair. Harry looked out to see that many of the crowd had successfully performed the charm when he continued.

"Excellent work, everyone. That charm is protection against jinxes, hexes, and can even provide limited protection against your weak curses. It absolutely does not block Unforgivables, however, so don't think its some miracle shield. Other shields have different effects, and I know that Flourish and Blotts has a few books on the subject, so feel free to investigate alternative shields beyond that basic one. A note about Death Eater attacks is that they are heavy on using Unforgivable curses; they are useful because of the fear they provoke, often causing an opponent to get scared. And while there is reputed to be no counter for, say, the Killing Curse, there is a simple one – don't be there." A short burst of laughter came appreciatively from his audience. "Now, I'm serious. Ron, come here. My friend Ron is my personal favorite target, and is getting pretty good at avoiding curses. I'll just shoot a tickling charm at him for now, as I don't really want to shoot Unforgivables at him. Most days." Another burst of somewhat patronizing laughter, "_Rictusempra_," he shot at Ron, who easily sidestepped. He shot another three off quickly, which Ron impressively also managed to avoid. He switched to nonverbal casting and sent a barrage that managed to hit Ron several times and he burst into cackles; the audience laughed uproariously, and Harry had to smirk too.

"And that demonstrates another good point – if the Death Eaters can't hit you with the Unforgivables, they'll have to switch to spells that they can cast more quickly, and preferably nonverbally. Seeing as how very few Death Eaters can cast Unforgivables nonverbally – I've only ever seen Voldemort do it," The audience, of course, gasped and frantically looked around as though expecting the Dark Lord to pop up in their midst, "They are more likely to cast spells that can be blocked by a Shield charm. So why doesn't everyone find a partner and practice dodging tickling charms?"

By the end of the seminar, Harry had instructed them how to perform the stunning spell and reverse it – had none of these wizards passed their Defense O.W.L.s – as well as demonstrated several other basic jinxes or hexes that could be useful – _Impedimenta, Reducto,_ and _Expelliarmus_ – that could be taught in future seminars.

"Harry, show us a duel!" An audience member cried out. _Do they not see the wheelchair?_ He thought, amazed at the stupidity of the general populace. No wonder Voldemort had them scared like mice.

"Well, I'm not really in any shape for a duel, seeing as how I'm in a wheelchair. But I'm sure that some of the aurors could –" He was interrupted by loud 'Boo's and jeers.

"Nonsense, Harry! I'll duel you myself!" Scrimgeour called out to cheers from the audience. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you!" The audience laughed. _Well, I'm glad he's boosting his approval rating_, Harry thought caustically. The Minister drew his wand with a flourish as Harry raised his own.

"_Rictusempra!_" Scrimgeour called out easily. At least he wasn't foolish enough to start a duel with a Stunning or Disarming spell.

"_Protego! Cruris Tremesco! Duro!_" The Minister managed to dodge the Jelly-Legs Jinx, but was hit by the hardening charm, which turned his robes hard as stone; as he tried to move in them, he tumbled to the ground when his robes didn't allow his leg to move. A quick series of charms from Harry and he was sporting flowing golden hair down to his knees and ostentatious makeup. The audience roared with laughter and applauded Harry, who smirked. _We'll see how the Minister likes this duel when I'm through with him._

"_Supplanto!_" But the Minister was ready for Harry this time, and nonverbally threw up was appeared to be an _Aegis_ shield.

"_Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Flipendo!_" When Harry's first shield was battered down, he quickly put up an _Imprimis_ shield, which caused the Minister's eyes to widen appreciatively. Harry decided to toss out his own spell chain.

_Pingo Verde!_ "_Conlingo Totalus! Flipendo! Aguamenti! Congelo! Everbero!_" The last combination – squirting water and causing it to freeze – was a combination he'd thought up and only used once against Ron in training to great effect. The Minister was banished right across the slippery ice and landed on the ground, quickly rising and nonverbally firing off a spell chain that Harry's _Imprimis_ shield absorbed before it dropped. It was a shame that the Minister was going easy on him because of his wheelchair and impairment, it would have been nice to actually duel him some time.

"_Accio _Wheelchair! _Expelliarmus!_" Harry's complacency got the better of him as he wound up on his side without his wand as both of the Minister's spells interrupted his thoughts. The audience erupted in applause as the Minister took a bow. Katie and Ron hurried to his side and manhandled him back into his wheelchair, Katie giving him a slight peck on the cheek afterwards.

"Excellent duel, Mr. Potter. Even in a wheelchair, you are a fine duelist – had you been at your best, I doubt you would have been the one without a wand." The Minister said, shaking Harry's hand as he returned the wand.

"Alright folks, thank you for attending this seminar, I know that Mr. Potter has been a fine instructor and an inspiration to us all!" The crowd applauded again and Harry nodded in acknowledgement, "Now, we will all make way to Hogsmeade in a large group accompanied by Aurors and Hit-Wizards to avoid any potential threats, and from there you can Apparate or Floo home. Look in the Daily Prophet for news of the next session!" Many began to file out, and just as many stayed behind to shake hands with Harry; he grew quite bored with it until someone said something interesting.

"Excellent job, Mr. Potter – if my Defense teachers at school were half as good as you, I might not have needed to come. And I think that rubbish about you being a Dark wizard is crazy." A timid looking business-wizard said before leaving. Harry looked at his friends critically before finishing greeting the rest of the stragglers, many of whom said something similar. Finally, he turned to his friends, instructors, and the Minister, all of whom were still in the Hall.

"Alright, I have a feeling that I need to read the _Daily Prophet_. What am I going to find?" He said coolly. Minister Scrimgeour was the one to answer.

"Well, Harry, in light of the lack of evidence, the _Prophet_ attempted to paint their own picture of you defeating the Death Eaters. Rita Skeeter's photographer got the best pictures, so they…may have insinuated that you used Dark magic rather brutally. And are being lured by the temptation of Dark magic. And Lucius Malfoy gave an interview in this morning's paper to the effect of you being as much of a threat as Voldemort. A lot of the articles have blamed Dumbledore." He said, adding more and more bad news on as he progressed. Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Well, I won't deny that I used spells that were questionable at best. I didn't want to, but I don't think we can really expect to fight Unforgivables with Disarming charms. We have to fight back with spells as close to being as powerful as the ones they're throwing as we can. I haven't used any Unforgivables, as I don't have the mindset for it, but I've used spells that could kill pretty easily. But they're Death Eaters who attacked me first with more lethal curses, and that's the only reason I used them. I wouldn't throw those at some innocent wizard." Harry explained.

"Now I certainly don't think you would, Harry. The press, it's fickle sometimes, I'm sure this will all blow over after that great seminar. Though Lucius' interview was rather vicious…anyway, I hope your recover proceeds smoothly, Harry. I will be in touch." The Minister and Percy made to leave, but Harry called out to the Weasley pariah.

"Percy, I'll see you at the Burrow for Christmas, right?" His voice let Percy know that there would be no disagreement, as did the expectant look from the Minister.

"O-of course, Harry. It will be good to see mother and father again." He said before he and Minister turned and walked out.

"Like they'd even want to see you, git," Ron muttered half-heartedly. Ron and Hermione left, leaving Katie to take Harry back to the hospital wing.

"Let's go, Mr. Intimidation. I grabbed you a copy of Lucius' article. He's a…well, he says a lot of things in there." Katie said angrily; apparently Lucius had began quite the smear campaign. Thankfully when he'd been released, Harry had prepared just the proper revenge on Lucius using his money. In fact, it would make quite the good Christmas present for the Malfoy family. Tom had really come up with the idea, and Harry was forced to bow to the master of backhanded politics. Tom certainly would have been a force at the Ministry, if the evil Dark Lord psychotic murderer hadn't panned out for him.

_**Lucius Malfoy speaks out against Hogwarts curriculum!**_

_By Rita Skeeter_

_I recently had the pleasure of speaking with recently exonerated prisoner Lucius Malfoy about current political events, and was quite fascinated by his ideas._

_"I was forced to resign as Hogwarts Governor several years ago," He mentioned, "And that was, I think, the beginning of when Dumbledore was able to strong-arm things through the Board without any kind of check on his rather…unconventional ideas. He had several professors, for instance, that were atrocious until the Ministry actually had to step in. Trust me, neither a werewolf or a deranged escaped Azkaban prisoner would have been allowed to teach Defense if I had a vote on the matter. Now, I'm certainly pleased to have been reinstated as a Governor, but I'm afraid that the damage is extensive. Dumbledore's hands are where they don't belong in far too many cases, and much of it is just irresponsible." Lucius obviously felt strongly on this point, as his gorgeous slate eyes burned with intensity as he spoke. Little known about Lucius is his capable spell-casting skill, along with his upstanding citizenship and dreamy looks; Malfoy was formerly a forerunner of Witch Weekly's "Most Eligible Bachelor" list before he married his beautiful and darling wife Narcissa Malfoy nee Black._

_"I think that Harry Potter is just another instance where Dumbledore was allowed too much leeway. The boy has, unfortunately, allowed his fame to get to his head as he abuses it. It was by his doing, you might recall, that poor Dolores Umbridge, with whom he had a childish quarrel with as she lead Hogwarts Defense class in a proper Ministry-approved curriculum, ended up in Azkaban and later killed. And now we hear reports of all sorts of Dark magic as he recklessly fought Death Eaters! I can only imagine the might-have-beens, if his cruel spells were to have hit the Aurors, who were bravely fighting the followers of You-Know-Who as Harry aimlessly and heedlessly nearly killed them." This author had certainly never thought of that possibility, and is also concerned._

_"And, of course, he was allowed to confiscate a portion of my own money while I was blamelessly in Azkaban; such behavior, while less harmful than Dark magic, is certainly just as irresponsible. Why is he entitled to the money of Death Eaters, allowing their own families to suffer? Does Harry Potter think he is the only one to have suffered at the hands of the Dark Lord? It is glaring arrogance and blindness like this that makes me concerned about his maturity, and whether Hogwarts is allowing him to develop as a normal child instead of one with a bloated opinion of himself. I fully intend, as reinstated governor, to do all in my power to correct the mistakes that may have been made." This author would like to wish aid to Lucius in his quest, and wishes that all of Wizarding Britain join against such abuse of power._

_Well, Lucius certainly hasn't lost his touch_, Tom said after Harry finished the article. _I can't wait to see the look on his face after our revenge, though._

"Harry, are you alright?" Katie asked, concerned as he hadn't spoken when they arrived at the hospital wing.

"Oh, I'm good. But I've had a plan for Lucius all along, and I think its time to pounce on him. This article is masterful, but so is my plan." She smiled at him.

"Alright, but don't forget that you have Remus and Tonks' wedding to attend, you can't get all busy and forget." They entered the Hospital wing, causing Fleur to remove herself from atop Bill with a pout, and Katie wished him goodbye. As Harry was exhausted from his morning and afternoon activities, he decided to take a short nap. Thinking about finally springing his revenge on Lucius Malfoy, he faded into a dream that was recognizable.

_He was surrounded by trees again, moving slowly, lying in wait. He saw the Black Mamba laying there, tasting the air with its tongue, but he finally realized why the dream was different than Tom's. When the tongue shot out, he wasn't tasting the air – no burst of information followed him. He was wrong last time, he'd cut the dream short too quickly. He was not the Black Mamba, he realized as he pounced upon it, forcing its head to the ground, the snake, Voldemort, was his _prey.

**A/N:** Well, this chapter is dedicated to all those who were crying for development on the Animagus front. Here you are, let the guessing game begin!


	13. Winter Break

**AN:** Well, I apologize for the delay. I hope you enjoy the story I put out a few weeks ago, Harry Potter and the Alchemist's Apprentice. It's something that came to me while this one wouldn't; it's quite a bit different from this, and makes use of more canonical wand magic and introduces runic theory more than canon ever did. It's gotten positive reviews, so I hope you enjoy it if you check it out.

Onwards and upwards, here we go!

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter Thirteen: Winter Break

Harry's revenge on Lucius Malfoy for his _Prophet _interview began on the ride to London via the Hogwarts Express, when he sent Hedwig off with a seemingly innocuous letter. After his rest and meditation when his Animagus form was revealed to him, Katie and Ron helped him back to the dorm – Ron taking great amusement in turning him green from the unsettling levitation – to pack up his things so that he could leave Hogwarts. The "plan" was for Harry to stay at the Burrow for most of the break and only leave to attend Remus and Tonks' wedding taking place at Headquarters. This "plan", however, was one that Harry had little intention to follow, as he had several things to accomplish rather quickly if his revenge on Lucius was to be complete. Most notably, he had to sneak out of England and cast several Fidelius Charms. Besides, no one had consulted with him when they formed this "plan".

_Nothing like a nice, relaxing break without adventures, eh Harry?_ Tom said sarcastically.

_You know, this is as much your plan as it is mine._ Harry regarded harshly. He heard another snicker come from Ron and used his Occlumency training to avoid cursing the girl who was now resting her head on his shoulder.

Despite having one arm around Katie, Ginny thought it perfect to sit down quite closely to Harry in the compartment that they'd found. She'd also apparently found Harry's shoulder a lovely pillow, a fact that Ron found terribly humorous and sent him into a case of the snickers every few minutes. Hermione was next to him with her Transfiguration text out practicing wand motions – she was still determined to beat Harry in Transfiguration, her best subject, and was much distressed to find herself far behind him thanks to Tom – and Luna beside her reading an upside down Quibbler with great interest.

"Really, Harry, I don't see why you're so opposed to Ginny's advances…not like you have another girl on your arm or anything…" Ron said with a smirk. Harry's wand joined his maliciously raised eyebrows as Ron's eyes widened – surely Harry wouldn't curse him on the train?

Harry, however, performed a particularly well-cast Switching Charm that left himself and Katie sitting next to Luna while Ginny's head now lay against Ron's arm, with Hermione on the other side of him. Hermione was so surprised by the suddenness of the charm that she accidentally transfigured her own leg into a cactus. Scowling at Harry for his "childish behavior – really, I'm trying to study!" she dug back into her Transfiguration text while the others continued their conversation. Ginny only awoke to severe confusion and disappointment once they arrived at King's Cross Station. The group all pulled down their luggage – most students, like Harry, only packed a sack of necessary items instead of their full trunk – and departed the train with the rest of the students. Harry said goodbye to Katie with a quick kiss, promising to write her all about the wedding, and was then attacked by Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh, Harry dear! You have no idea just how worried I've been for you this term! The stories I've heard, oh I just couldn't bear it sometimes!" She said frantically, clutching him painfully to her bosoms. "And you lot!" She turned to Ron and Hermione, still suffocating Harry "You should keep a closer watch on him! You know what kind of trouble he gets into every year – Ron, you were probably encouraging it, knowing you!"

"Uh…mum? I think Harry's turning purple…" Ron started, prompting his mother to release Harry and pat his hair down – it sprang back to its former chaos immediately.

"Well, at least you look as though you're eating properly – a bit of meat on your bones, finally! Well, let's all get back to the Burrow. Professor Dumbledore arranged this Portkey for us to ensure our safety – wasn't that wonderful of him? Everyone hold on now." She held out a sock – definitely Dumbledore's work, then – that everyone clutched. A jerk from behind his navel and the group was in front of the Burrow; Ginny, Ron, and Hermione were on the ground, but Harry got an odd look from Hermione as he was still standing, having landed easily like Mrs. Weasley. Tom of course knew how to land from a Portkey, having made and used enough illegal ones in his time.

"Ron, mind you don't stain your robes – you'd think you could stand on those feet, big as they are! Now come on you three, you don't see Harry rolling on the ground now, don't be ridiculous." Mrs. Weasley force-marched all of them up to the house and ushered them in, glancing around quickly before she closed the front door, as though her cursory glance would reveal a load of Death Eaters outside her door and somehow give her precious seconds longer.

Inside the house, two loud '_CRACK_'s caused Harry to drop to the ground and spin, wand out. His spin swept the legs out from one of the recent arrivals, who fell on top of the other in a tangle of arms, legs, and Weasley-red hair.

"FRED! GEORGE! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU TWO ABOUT APPARATING INSIDE THIS HOUSE!!" Mrs. Weasley roared. Harry, realizing who the intruders were, got up off the ground and put away his wand; apparently, all of these attacks this year had put him on edge a bit.

"Sorry mum!" Fred said with a wide grin, obviously not sorry at all as he removed himself from his twin and straightened his acidic green dragon hide jacket.

"Blimey, Harry, didn't reckon you'd go all kung-fu on us there! I thought we were friends!" George said with an equally wide grin. Harry smiled awkwardly at the two of them in return.

"Yeah, well…been a long semester, I guess I'm just on edge a bit." He absently rubbed his gut, which had nearly audibly groaned in protest to his quick movement. Hermione was the only one who noticed, and she promptly moved everyone to a seat so that he might be more comfortable.

"We remember, Death Eaters and all that in Hogsmeade. Not to mention famous ickle Harrikins all grown up and teaching seminars to the entirety of Wizarding England! Oh George, they just grow up so fast!" Fred dramatically wiped a tear and clung to his twin in a fair imitation of his mother, who was quickly by his side to whack him upside the head.

"We all happen to be very proud of Harry, Fred. I think it's wonderful that he teaches those who want to learn. Arthur's been quite popular at work since that seminar – everyone knows that we know you so well, dear. I daresay he's favored for the position of the Head of the DMLE! After all, the Minister knows he can trust Arthur, who's been so loyal for so long, and he was one of the first to be able to –" Molly said, starting on a tirade that the twins had apparently heard before, being around the house when they wanted dinner.

"Resist that awful Imperious Curse – oh my, how dreadful, to think of important leaders under that curse!" Fred and George cut in, swooning in imitation of their mother, who merely glared at them.

"Fine, then, finish my speeches. Is it so wrong to be proud of my husband? Welcome home, dears, I'll go finish up supper for us." Mrs. Weasley bustled into the kitchen, leaving the students at the mercies of the twins. Fred nodded to George, who shot a nonverbal charm – Harry thought it might have been a silencing charm, but wasn't certain – at the door Mrs. Weasley went through, then nodded to his twin.

"Harry! Lovely little move back there, right George?"

"Absolutely Fred, almost as lovely as some of the moves he had back at the press conference."

"Why by Merlin, you're right, George! Quite some lovely little moves. Spill, you lot, where'd you learn to do that. We're a little doubtful that old Snape is _that_ good of a Defense teacher, much as the slimy git may know about the Dark Arts." Fred added, looking pointedly at Harry. Harry smirked at that – these twins were smarter than most people gave them credit for.

"We've been doing a bit of training, if you must know. Mostly Ron and I, and Katie Bell; Hermione's started coming a bit recently, though." Harry ignored the furious look that Ginny shot Hermione.

"Like the old DA kind of training? Only since you and Ronniekins were some of the top members of the DA, probably more intense, eh?" George said, stroking his chin a bit.

"A little more intense, yes." Hermione snorted in a very unladylike fashion, causing the twins to turn to her.

"Right. Just a little, right Harry? Not that you needed to learn loads of healing charms or anything to keep your limbs attached…" She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh come off it, Hermione. We really only practice the dangerous spells on the dummies any more, so it's hardly even dangerous to us. Sure, Harry and I toss each other around sometimes to practice on an evasive target, but still…we've never been all that seriously hurt or anything. Besides, you saw how effective it was when it came to those Death Eaters – Harry was all over the place with them, and I think Katie and I did a pretty decent job at taking them out." Ron defended somewhat hotly. Ginny chose this moment to burst into the conversation.

"Excuse me!? Why was I never told about this? Don't you think I might like to participate too? Does my willingness to go to the Department of Mysteries mean absolutely nothing? Or are you and Ron still upset at me for having a boyfriend?" Ginny stood up and stormed off angrily upstairs to her room, leaving Harry to roll his eyes exasperatedly. He continued the discussion without her.

"So what were you two wanting to know?" Fred and George smiled identically at this question from Harry.

"Tell us more about these dummies of yours, Harrikins…" Harry quirked an eyebrow before launching into a rather detailed explanation of the target dummies; Hermione and the twins had both taken out quill and parchment and were copiously taking notes, the twins often asking for clarification on particular points. Ron had long before grabbed Harry's things and his own and carried them up to his room. After Harry's explanation, the questioning trio asked even more pointed questions about modifications.

"So if we made a few that were less resistant to spells than yours, and filled them with some 'Boom juice' – recipe courtesy of Neville Longbottom, who really has a future in demolition, I think – would the impact of the spells set off the explosion?"

"Now let's say we went the other route – would the protective runework interfere with the animation spells?"

"Let's say we wanted one to follow Percy around and trip him at regular intervals…which kind of invisibility do you think would be best?"

After a half hour of discussion, Mrs. Weasley burst in and announced supper was ready. While the twins rushed towards the food, Hermione stayed behind and asked one last question of Harry.

"So which book are you going to claim these are in? Because I've already checked the library and the books you borrowed from Professor Dumbledore for them, and they aren't there. So when you feel like telling me the truth, let me know." She turned on her heel and went with Ron, who'd nearly flown down the stairs, and Ginny to the dining room. Harry sighed, seeing that some secrets of his might need to be soon revealed.

'_Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Hermione really is a clever witch just as Severus was, and he figured it out a good deal sooner. Alternatively, you could always memory charm her._' Despite the suggestion likely being a good one, Harry felt somewhat guilty for considering the possibility of wiping one of his best friend's memory. '_Honestly, Harry, it isn't like you're having your way with her first. Although if you're going to be memory charming her in the first place I don't really see why not –_' Harry ignored Tom for now – he hoped the Horcrux was joking, anyway – and followed the crowd into the dining room, still enlarged from his first visits as it had been over the summer, suggesting that some of the Order might be joining them.

As it turned out, the enlarged dining room was quite a prerequisite for the family because Mrs. Weasley insisted that she see all of her children over the holidays, including Bill celebrating with the family (along with Fleur) and Charlie, recently arrived from Romania. He shot Harry a broad wink and sat down near him and the other younger children at the table.

"Wotcher, Harry! How've you been? Messing about with any Horntails recently?" Charlie asked with a grin. Apparently Ron and the twins had gotten their somewhat boisterous attitude from him, though Ron was taller and much lankier than his second oldest brother, who Harry thought could have had a future in the Royal Marines, if they recruited wizards. It had been an ambition of Dudley's to join them, before Uncle Vernon convinced him of the notion that joining the military was for uneducated hoodlums these days; Harry wasn't certain just why Dudley was unsuited for it, if that were true.

"No Charlie, I've been trying to stay away from creatures that could easily kill me. Whether or not I've been doing a good job is another matter entirely, of course," Harry said with a grin, making Charlie laugh appreciatively.

"And I suppose these terrors are doing well, of course? I've got to say, that shield hat of yours was a frightfully good idea, kiddies! Why, the first time I couldn't get a shield up around me in time to block an upset dragon's breath, my arse wasn't cooked and all the blokes at the Pen wanted one! I've to pick up another twenty for part-timers too, so forty total, boys – and I'll want a discount!" At the other end of the table, Bill was talking to Mr. Weasley while Fleur beside him listened to the conversations on either side of her. Molly bustled about bringing the various dishes to the table when a voice she heard caused her to drop the green beans – Bill and Harry both whipped out their wands to stop it, smiling at each other as they did so.

"Is there room for another at the table, Mother?" A stiff and formal voice that could only belong to one Weasley asked.

"Oh Percy! Oh of course, dear! Fred, George, move over and make room for your brother!" Her voice went from teary to harsh instantly as she addressed first Percy, and then the twins; apparently she hadn't forgotten the twins' earlier imitation of her. The twins, apparently not as anxious to forgive their older brother for his disloyalty as their mother was, scowled darkly before scooting over. Mrs. Weasley retreated to the kitchen once more to get a few remaining dishes.

"Percy," Bill said somewhat coolly, "Glad you decided to join us." At least Bill was making overtures, unlike Ron, who was blatantly ignoring the Weasley pariah.

"Of course, William. The Minister believes family very important – he was quite generous to give me some time to spend with you all." Percy said rather quietly.

"Give you some time, ha! I'll bet –"

"You're under orders to be here!" The twins said together. No one leapt to Percy's defense, not even himself, as he merely ignored the barb.

"I'm glad you've at least learned to follow the better orders, then, Percy." Harry cut in diplomatically. Percy met his gaze and nodded in polite thanks. This had given Mrs. Weasley enough time to come back from the kitchen – not even the twins dared make a comment about Percy in front of her right now; they knew how volatile she could be when emotional, and this was about as emotional as she could get.

"Percy, dear, make sure you get enough mashed potatoes – I've no idea how you've managed out all by yourself, with only bachelor cooking to sustain you! Heaven knows the twins would've starved if they hadn't come back every night for dinner!" She missed Ron's mutter of "…Should be so lucky…" which earned him a glare from Hermione and a smirk from Ginny, and the rest of the meal proceeded smoothly if somewhat awkwardly. Silence reigned throughout much of it, which was quite strange with so many Weasleys present, Harry thought, and Fred and George's attempts for pranks on Percy only began once Molly ushered Ginny and Hermione to help her bring dishes to the kitchen for cleaning. Almost the instant the door to the kitchen closed, Percy's face turned tomato red and his hair vine green.

"Well would you look at that, Fred, I do believe our brother's eaten something disagreeable!" George said amicably. Fred adopted a 'thinking' pose with the hand stroking his chin and then agreed.

"By George, you're right, George! I do hope it isn't too permanent. Quite embarrassing for such a _prominent_ Ministry employee to look like that at his job, you know. Dreadful." Fred responded. Charlie had chuckled a bit at their antics, and Bill rolled his eyes and grinned, but Percy's response was perhaps the most surprising of all.

"Yes, well…I suppose I could always tell the Minister that his secretary has just been particularly amorous lately." He said straight-faced. The silence at the table was deafening – no one had heard Percy crack a joke for as long as they remembered, much less take one of the twins' pranks so well. '_Well perhaps he's grown up some after all_,' Tom said with a mental grin to Harry. Charlie was the first to break the audible silence, however, as he erupted into his characteristic deep, jovial laugh. He was soon joined by Mr. Weasley and Bill. The twins were still seemingly in shock, while Ron had found a sour expression that his face had taken a liking to.

"Merlin Perce! What have they done to you at that office? We check him for Polyjuice yet?" Charlie said through his laughter, causing even the twins to chuckle a bit. Percy had a wry grin on his face, but didn't respond. Indeed, Ron seemed to be the only one still upset – he had gotten up from the table and gone to the living room alone. Harry excused himself and followed his friend.

"What's going on, Ron? Percy –" Harry began.

"I don't want to hear about that bloody git, Harry." Ron said angrily.

"Come on, Ron, he's being less of a git than ever right now, I think."

"Doesn't matter. He walked out on us, Harry. The Ministry was more important to him than us and I…who does that, Harry? How could you walk out on your family?! That'd be like me walking out on you, it'd never happen!" Harry had to fight to avoid laughing at this proclamation.

"Ron, remember our fourth year when you weren't speaking to me? Or third year when you weren't speaking to Hermione?" Ron had the good nature to look embarrassed at this, at least, "People make mistakes, just as you've done and certainly just as I've done. But with your family, with your best friends, you take 'em back when they realize it. Percy's made an effort – and it was hard for him, no doubt, to take the twins' prank good-naturedly. So let's go back in there, right mate?" Ron took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah, sure Harry. Thanks." Ron went back into the kitchen and they emerged upon a quite humorous scene.

"FRED! GEORGE! YOU MAKE PERCY NORMAL!!" Mrs. Weasley said, waving her wooden spoon threateningly; she had backed the two into the corner, leaving everyone else snickering behind her.

"Really mum, I think that's far beyond our meager skills – I mean, we can't even turn his face back to its usual color!" Fred quipped with a smirk. At this Mrs. Weasley made to whack her son on the shoulder with her spoon; Fred, however, was too quick for her and Apparated behind her, leaving her to hit George standing beside her. He rubbed his shoulder and Apparated behind her too after saying, "Oww, mum!" She turned on them, initiating a chase between the three of them as the twins Apparated away just out of reach of their mother's spoon. The rest of the family and all of the guests roared with laughter at their behavior before Mrs. Weasley just gave up and stormed out of the dining room, trying to hold back her laughter and stay mad at her twins.

The show concluded for the evening, Fred and George said their farewells and returned to their apartment above their shop in Diagon Alley, leaving the Burrow in nearly one piece. Their departure and the subsequent settling of things, however, was interrupted by the Apparation arrival of a disheveled man wearing rags who promptly collapsed in a heap. Bill and Arthur were the closest to his arrival, so they were the first who ran over to the man, wands out. They weren't needed, however, as Arthur was able to quickly determine the identity of the man, despite a beard, long hair, unwashed look, and general unkempt feeling, as though he'd been living with animals for some time. There were also several injuries that looked suspiciously like bite and claw marks – it was the claws, mostly, that had shredded the robes the man wore.

"It's Remus!" Arthur cried, visibly shaken by the werewolf's appearance. The full moon had been only a few days prior, but Remus looked far more terrible than he ever had before after a 'monthly visit'. Ron and Harry were immediately at his side, attempting to cast the healing spells they'd learned over the previous term. None of them seemed effective on the werewolf's wounds, however.

"Ron, run up to my trunk and fetch the dittany and murtlap essence. Mrs. Weasley," Harry called to the distraught woman, whose hands were covering her mouth, still in shock, "Call Madam Pomfrey at Hogwarts over the Floo…these wounds are pretty serious, so she should check them out. Have her fetch Snape, too." She nodded and walked near the fireplace, still looking at the state of Remus.

One of his wounds was far worse than the others, Harry noticed – his leg, if not healed, would likely leave a permanent limp. Seeing no viable alternative and the wound being resistant to every other spell Harry had tried, he remembered the spell Snape used on the cursed wound from the _Sectumsempra_ spell.

"_Integropercuro! Integropercuro! Integropercuro!_" Harry said, repeating the incantation. Unlike the rest, this actually seemed to have a noticeable effect on the deep wound. Blood flow from it had slowed from a gush to a trickle, and when Harry repeated the spell three more times, it was totally staunched and somewhat healed over, though still leaving a particularly ugly scar. When Ron came back with the desired potions, Harry mixed them both into a bit of a salve and covered it with bandages that Mrs. Weasley brought to him. Finally, he _Scourgify_ed the werewolf, which removed most of the stench he was emitted, at least, and revealed several other minor wounds that Harry was able to close with the _Integropercuro_ spell. Harry wasn't sure just where Snape had learned that, but it led Harry to believe that the disagreeable Professor might have had a future as a Healer in another set of circumstances. Of course, his bedside manner might be unique.

Harry was just smearing more of the murtlap and dittany on the numerous minor wounds he'd just helped close when Snape and Pomfrey came through the fireplace; Snape was of course in a tizzy when Harry was anywhere near a potion.

"Get away, you fool boy!" He yelled harshly, taking Harry's place beside Lupin before Madam Pomfrey sidled up. Both began casting detection spells and frowned somewhat. Remus, however, seemed to be doing better and chose that moment to awaken, still groggy.

"Severus? Madam Pomfrey?" Remus looked around a bit, confused and disoriented, before continuing, "Oh good, I'm at the Burrow. I was afraid I wouldn't quite make it," before losing consciousness again.

"Mr. Potter, what were you doing to him?" Madam Pomfrey began. Snape had already torn off the bandage Harry put on the leg wound and was sniffing it suspiciously before taking out a few of his own jars of creams and smearing them around Remus' hip.

"The wounds weren't closing to the simple healing charms that I know," Harry began, but was interrupted by Snape, "That's because they are bites and claw marks from a werewolf, Potter. Honestly, it is quite apparent that you know _nothing_ about Dark creatures despite all attempts to teach you if you couldn't –"

"I thought the fact that they were caused by werewolves fairly obvious, Professor Snape, given the fact that he was attempting to infiltrate a werewolf pack. Anyway, I ended up closing them using that healing charm that Professor Snape used on himself after he was cursed with the _Sectumsempra_ spell." Snape's scowl deepened even further – and it was a deep scowl from having been interrupted by Harry to begin with – as Madam Pomfrey responded.

"That is interesting – the wounds are similarly cursed, and therefore difficult to close…" She seemed to be considering writing an article about the process, "Well I'm certainly glad you thought of that, Mr. Potter, for I don't know if I would have. Certainly not standard procedure for werewolf wounds, if there is such a thing. And what of the other treatments? Something for scarring, perhaps?" She raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"Yes, I had some dittany and murtlap essence in my trunk, so I used both. I also used the same procedure on a bunch of minor wounds. They closed more completely and might not scar, but I put on the salves anyway." Harry finished.

"That was excellent thinking, Mr. Potter. Whatever made you think of using those?" Harry smirked a little – experience, as usual, of course.

"Well, you mentioned dittany to help Professor Snape's wound; I used murtlap essence myself on my hand after Umbridge made me use a Blood Quill in detention. I figured one of the two might be a little effective." Harry noticed Professor Snape's face burst into a very evil and sadistic grin when he mentioned Umbridge's detentions. Harry hoped he hadn't given Snape ideas. '_Ideas? That was like an early Christmas present for him, Harry!_' Tom thought, amused.

"Professor Snape formulated this salve especially for werewolf-inflicted wounds for Professor Lupin during his tenure as a Professor – just in case of any self-inflicted wounds, of course – so that will be the best. But dittany and murtlap is a decent alternative, Potter. Very nice work for an amateur, all together. It's a shame school isn't in session, or I'd have awarded you a considerable number of points!" '_No doubt Snape would have taken them all away soon enough_,' Harry had to catch himself from replying. The Professor in question had conjured up a simple cot in the Weasleys' front room and levitated Professor Lupin into it.

"Now Molly, make sure he gets enough rest – he needs to get up tomorrow and walk a bit on that hip, or it'll be too sore for the wedding, not to mention a potentially permanent limp! I'm sure you're all very tired, so Severus and I will head back to Hogwarts. Have a good holiday, Mr. Potter." Madam Pomfrey really must have been impressed with Harry's work for him to warrant his own separate farewell; Snape just sneered at him before Flooing back to Hogwarts. Some things would never change, of course.

"Well," Harry said after the excitement passed, "I'm about knackered. Have a good night, everyone!" Everyone decided that was a good idea, and followed his example. Luckily for Harry, Ron, with whom he was sharing a room, decided to get a snack from the kitchen before joining Harry in the room, so he had plenty of time to conjure one of the golems and cover it with a blanket – also giving it black hair like his own – in a fair imitation of himself under the covers. He Disillusioned himself in the room to see Ron walk in and also climb into bed. He even responded "Goodnight" to Ron before silencing the area around him and Apparating away, making no noise that was audible to Ron.

He emerged on the shore of the English channel, not trusting his Apparation skills like Tom Riddle always had to see him safely on the French side, so he used a second jump before leaving British shores for the first time. Of course, he had several memories of times abroad as Tom Riddle, and it was these that he was drawing on as he departed for southern Aquitaine, home of the Malfoy's second home that he owned.

Voldemort had visited the French manor only once, but knew its location well, because it was often where Death Eaters retreated to after a less-than-perfectly executed raid. If it involved the English Aurors, then it was an even more likely destination; the French liaison to England was securely in the pocket of Voldemort through Malfoy – who had a ridiculous number of French connections just as he had in Britain – and he had enough power to delay any investigations long enough for his men to recover and be long gone. It had never happened, but contingency was Voldemort's specialty, after all.

In a bit of a hurry since he only had a few hours to complete the Fidelius Charm on both of the properties, Harry immediately set about pacing the property line. At certain intervals, he'd seem to trace designs in the air, sometimes after casting detection spells. The entire process was complicated, particularly once he'd entered the manor and Apparated out on top of the roof to delineate the vertical limit of the Fidelius Charm. Finally, after an hour of pacing and countless wand movements, Harry traced that same design on his forehead and said, "_Fidelius!_" forcefully. All knowledge of the property was promptly removed from the mind of everyone but Harry in a rush of magic. Harry was the second wizard living to have cast the immensely complex charm, he thought somewhat proudly. Of course, he'd never have been able to do so without Tom – the Arithmantic predictions alone for the property would have escaped him for many years without the Horcrux's mastery of the subject to draw upon. He performed two more long distance Apparations before ending up in the Malfoys' Italian villa. And this would be the more challenging to complete. The French manor house had a sizable amount of property, to be sure, but the Italian villa included a vineyard and several houses for laborers – not that any were currently present, but in the past it had been a notable wine producing villa – as well as guest houses and the main mansion, which was large if not quite the size of the English manor owned by the Malfoys.

Sighing a bit at the prospect, Harry repeated the process in larger scale of the previous casting. This time the perimeter tracings alone took four hours, and Harry's brain seemed unlikely to function when he was finally able to trace the rune on his forehead and nearly feel the rush of magic that drew the knowledge deep within him, keeping it secret. Four quick consecutive Apparitions later and he was back in the room at the Burrow; he Vanished the golem from his bed and climbed in, asleep before he could cover himself with blankets.

Harry awoke several hours later to a giggling redhead. Resisting the impulse to groan, he merely sleepily muttered, "Er…hi Ginny."

"Oh, did I wake you up, Harry? Sorry!" Harry doubted that somewhat, but didn't say anything, which she took as a sign to continue talking, "Anyway, you've been sleeping all morning, but Mum said that it was probably because those healing charms you used on Professor Lupin were so exhausting. Anyway, I just thought I'd bring up lunch for you, but then Professor Lupin came by and made a funny remark, so that's why I was giggling." Harry was still a bit tired from casting the two Fidelius Charms until quite late last night, but he supposed that being a bit tired was a consequence of his necessary excursion.

"Thanks Ginny, that was nice of you." He said diplomatically to the girl. A silent plea of '_Please let me enjoy it alone_,' was added ineffectively.

"Oh, it's really no problem. Not like I have much else I could be doing here, it's always so _boring_. So Harry, I want to do that new D.A. training like everyone else. Seriously, I'm no slouch with a wand, you know that from last year." Ginny said somewhat seriously.

"It's not really D.A. training, Ginny. It's just a few of us – Ron, Neville, Katie, Hermione sometimes. And it's quite a bit more intense than the D.A. But I actually think Neville would make a good partner for you, come to think of it. Actually, why don't you invite Luna too, since you're in some of her classes." Harry said; he'd been meaning to invite Luna for some time, and seeing her at Slughorn's recent party had only reminded him.

"Well, it's just the same kind of thing, right? Learn a few new spells, practice them…that's all I meant. But of course I'll ask Luna – I know she hasn't been having quite as good a time in classes now that she doesn't have the people in the D.A. to be friends with. Though it's still loads better than it used to be for her…So let's talk, Harry, I feel like we haven't seen much of each other this year." Ginny said, changing the subject abruptly while Harry smeared jam on his toast.

"Er, well…I've been pretty busy with everything, Ginny. A lot of things are sort of coming to a head in a way, you know. Plus lessons with the Headmaster, training every day, the usual N.E.W.T. homework, spending some time with Katie – I've been busy. And with it being your O.W.L. year, I'm sure you're busy too." Harry said.

"Oh, of course, I'm very busy. Hardly any time at all. But tell me more about this training – Ron said you shoot spells at each other a lot?" Ginny started. Harry proceeded to tell her about some of the exercises they'd come up with, finally mentioning how Ron and Hermione were working on preparing for Animagus transformations, which Ginny seemed quite interested in also. At this point Harry finished his breakfast and was thankfully stolen from Ginny by Remus, who entered the room looking well.

"Well if it isn't my personal Healer – how're you feeling, Harry?" Remus said with a smile.

"Aren't I supposed to be asking you that, if I'm the Healer? _And what do you think you're doing out of bed?_" Harry finished in a crude impression of Madam Pomfrey. Unfortunately the medi-witch was coming into the room behind Remus, and had a disapproving look on her face that made Harry grin.

"It seems I don't need to ask you that question, do I Mr. Potter? Are you always so productive on your holidays, sleeping into the afternoon?" Harry's smirk didn't diminish at this; if only she knew how he'd spent his night, she might not be so critical.

"Well Remus, since Madam Pomfrey seems to have taken your well-being to task, what can I do for you this fine morn-afternoon?" Harry asked pleasantly; Ginny of course giggled lightly at his joke.

"Well, Harry, I just wanted to thank –" Harry waved off his comment casually.

"It was nothing. I was there and I tried a few spells and things that worked for me. Snape had a better balm anyway, not to mention teaching me that spell in the first place, so he's really to blame for you being up and around as well as you are." Harry said quickly. Remus smiled and nodded.

"Well, I've already thanked Severus, and I thank you anyway. And I wanted to thank you also for lending Kreacher to clean up Grimmauld Place for the wedding – it's astonishing, how it looks, Harry. I'm not sure what you said to him, but it will really make for a lovely ceremony. So when's the best man taking the groom-to-be out for his bachelor party?" Remus said with a smile. Luckily Bill and Charlie had overheard and burst in at that moment.

"Don't worry, Remus, we'll get you taken care of in that department." Bill said with a lecherous smile.

"Seriously, Bill, two words: Veela strippers. All I said was to ask Fleur if she had any friends. This whole thing would've been insane if you had." Charlie put in, causing a laugh from all of the males in the room and a roll of Ginny's eyes. Of course, she never had been able to conceal her jealousy of Fleur, much less a full Veela.

"And I told you that I very much like my spot in her bed and don't want to be on the couch when I'm at her place, so no, I won't ask that." Bill said somewhat wryly. Charlie shook his head woefully at this and sighed.

"That's alright, Bill. After all, if the next morning I'm getting married to –" Remus began before being interrupted by Bill.

"Oh no, Remus. Bachelor party – not married. You can't think about soon being married, either. That's breaking the rules. Anyway, Harry, as best man you pay for the drinks. Hope that's not a problem," Harry assured him that it wasn't, of course, stifling another protestation from Remus before it left his mouth, "And anyway, as a werewolf you should be able to drink us all under the table! Oh this is going to be so much fun!"

_Well Harry_, Tom said with a smirk, _Looks like tonight you won't be getting to bed early either. Just remember what happened in my seventh year in the Slytherin Common Room party and try to avoid that_. _Terribly embarrassing when I showed them the pictures I took._

_I don't think I'll drink enough firewhiskey to find the toilet water that appetizing, Tom. And if I do, you stop me._ Tom's silence indicated that Harry might be on his own, or even encouraged by the Horcrux to follow that path.

Much of the rest of the day was spent either in planning with Bill, Charlie, the twins, Ron, and chastisement from Percy, or casually playing Exploding Snap and wizards' chess to pass the day. Harry also received and wrote and delivered an inordinate amount of letters; he gave no indication as to their content, but always had a wide grin on his face after he sent back either the owl that delivered the letter or Hedwig.

Finally at around eight, the bachelor party was set to get going, and Bill pulled Ron and Harry aside before they left.

"Alright, boys, now as you know you aren't technically old enough to go to any of the pubs, we need to fix things up a bit!" Bill handed them each a small vial that Harry recognized – Fred and George had used the same Aging Potion before the Tri-Wizard Tournament to attempt to cross the Age Line.

"Just down that vial and you'll be 19 for the night." Both boys immediately did so; Ron grew another two inches and grew a bit of scruff all along his neck and face, while Harry, too, grew quite a bit and also filled out more than Ron had, the lean muscle he'd obtained from training growing a bit and alleviating his runty-ness some. "Also, Harry, you might want to let me do a little transfigure your hair and eyes or something…make you a little less recognizable. It'll just make the evening a bit smoother – everyone knows how old Harry Potter is, after all, thanks to the Witch Weekly countdown." Harry rolled his eyes and smirked, nodding at Bill, who gave him dirty blonde hair and brown eyes; Harry used his Metamorph medal to change his facial structure some as well – the end result was far from Harry Potter.

"Wow! That worked even better than I'd hoped, Harry! You don't look anything like you!" Bill said to Ron's agreement. Harry replied, "Yeah, and you two could nearly be twins if Ron took more of that Aging Potion." Bill slung an arm around his younger brother with a grin before they rejoined the departing group.

"To the Leaky Cauldron!" The twins, who'd already started the party a little early it seemed, yelled in unison. Bill and Charlie grabbed Ron and Harry, respectively, and everyone Apparated away to Tom's pub.

A large crowd greeted them; mostly every male member of the Order was there, and greeted the Weasleys warmly as they arrived. Mr. Weasley would be coming later, as he was still working late, as was Kingsley Shacklebolt. Most of the others, Harry, recognized, however, as he deflected a stray Stunning spell from Moody harmlessly onto the ceiling.

"Still keeping up the good reflexes, I see," Moody growled at him with a sadistic grin; in a whisper he added, "Don't drink too much, Harry, all these Order members are too pretty a target all together here. You and me'll keep our wits and wands about us, eh?" Harry grinned affirmatively and Moody winked his good eye at him, turning away to slap a jovial Remus on the back once more.

"Hiya Tom – all these folks' drinks are on me tonight, so don't let Remus pay a dime. And I'll take a butterbeer," Harry said to the bartender he'd gotten to know quite well. Ron, on the other hand, had a firewhiskey shot glass in each hand and had already burped flames twice. Harry grinned at his predictable friend.

Dedalus Diggle, after learning of Harry's disguise, shook his hand and introduced himself several times as Harry made his rounds through the Order members. He particularly made sure to apologize to Sturgis Podmore, who'd spent six months in Azkaban the previous year guarding the prophecy – he still had a somewhat haunted look in his eyes that always reminded Harry of Sirius when he'd seen him over the summer. Elphias Doge, one of the oldest members of the Order, stopped in for a short while to wish Remus his best, but left after only a butterbeer; Mundungus Fletcher, on the other hand, was quite enjoying Harry's hospitality by filling up two canteens he'd brought with Ogden's Old Firewhiskey.

Even Professor Dumbledore made a brief appearance along with Professors Flitwick and Slughorn. While Professor Dumbledore enjoyed a butterbeer and left, claiming the need for plenty of beauty rest before the ceremony the following day, Flitwick and Slughorn decided to stay for a bit – Flitwick after feeling a bit tipsy from half of a butterbeer and Slughorn to get the chance to butter up Ron and meet his family.

"Ah yes, Tom, some of your special mead for me, if you will!" Slughorn called out with a wink to Tom. "My favorite, you know, as well as Professor Dumbledore's; Tom always keeps some special for us. So Ron my boy, you simply _must_ introduce me to this William I've heard all about! Goblins are a bit of a specialty of mine, I must say…"

"Hick! I was just saying how much you've been missed on staff, Hick! Remus! Haven't had nearly the quality Hick! Defense instruction!" Flitwick had a broad smile on his face and had fallen off of his stool twice now that he'd finished his second butterbeer. Ron, quite drunk from Firewhiskey, couldn't hold a competent conversation with Professor Slughorn because of his laughter at Flitwick.

Harry was watching it all with a bemused expression, while Moody was just getting agitated, his eye whirling frantically in all directions. He seemed to be favoring an aerial bombardment currently as he scanned the skies.

"To the Hog's Head!" Bill and Charlie cried loudly to the rest of the bachelor party. As many of them lined up in front of the Floo, Harry noticed that three figures quickly Apparated away soon after the announcement.

_If I keep this up I'll be more paranoid than Moody_, Harry thought ruefully as he settled the tab with Tom. It was several hundred galleons, but Harry didn't flinch at the price – he hadn't seen Remus this happy as long as he could remember.

Harry Apparated outside the Hog's Head to join everyone – most everyone Flooed because Apparation and Firewhiskey mix terribly, of course – and found that the party was still going full tilt inside. He once again assured the bartender that he'd be picking up the tab – the tall barkeep grunted in agreement and returned to wipe down the bar. Unfriendly bloke, he was, and never gave Harry another look.

Everyone was drinking to excess – except Moody, of course – and enjoying themselves when Harry saw a familiar green light outside the window. He must have unconsciously magnified his voice magically because everyone heard his scream of, "Everyone down NOW!" and complied, leaving the Killing Curse to blast the window apart violently and strike the far wall of the pub. The Death Eaters outside were clearly visible, now – Harry cursed himself for not thinking more of the figures who Apparated away, of course half the bloody Order incapacitated would be a fine target!

"Moody, Floo everyone to Headquarters, I'll hold them here." Harry said in a commanding voice that he wasn't quite aware that he had. With a harsh few syllables, the fiery whip that Professor Dumbledore used in the battle against Voldemort flew from his wand and lay on the ground in front of the window. With a thought the flames leapt higher, forming a wall of fire that might obstruct their view of the inside of the bar – an advantage for Harry, since the Death Eaters were lined up in a circle outside. Harry grinned and with a horizontal arc of a slashing motion sent out Snape's _Sectumsempra_ in a wide angle that was five or six Death Eaters across. He heard satisfying yelps from at least three different voices; perhaps some had been able to conjure up shields. Their return volley was blocked by an enormous block of marble that Harry conjured where the window used to be; it stopped all their curses and would give Harry some respite for a few more rounds, at least.

Ten of the Order had Flooed to safety, leaving a good many still waiting, as well as the six previous patrons of the bar, all of whom were also too inebriated to leave other than by Floo. In a snap decision, Harry grabbed Bill and Ron and with much greater focus than he normally would have used to Apparate, Side-Along Apparated both of them with him to Headquarters and then immediately Apparated back to the pub and did the same thing a moment later with Charlie and Percy. When he returned for the second time, his marble wall had taken too many curses to stand up to any more, so he Vanished the remains of it and sent back six rapid fire curses from several different points, hoping to make it look like there were more defenders than just himself.

Conjuring a ball of marble in the air to block the green return fire as he ducked, Harry almost longed for the ease of using the Killing Curse himself, but settled for eight of his personal blue Stunning Curses – close enough to a Killing Curse for some unlucky Death Eaters, Harry thought as he heard the 'thud's on the ground that indicated his good guess on their locations. A few yellow curses, likely bone-snapping or similar spells, flew from a wand to his right, while some angry transfigurations flew over his head. Moody had joined the battle, it seemed as he winked to Harry, as did the bartender.

"Fight or flee, Potter, it's up to you." Moody said with a grim smile. Harry replied by saying, "_Duro_," as the walls near his fiery concealment hardened tougher than stone, and the marble, this time even thicker than before, blocked the window. Harry smiled at the two remaining men in the bar.

"That should buy us some time. My plan was to bottleneck them at the door – it's the only weak point in the perimeter now. And here's one more surprise for them." Harry conjured up two more walls of marble, eventually planning to barricade the door with another layer. Then Harry used his wand's cutting curses to engrave the marble with an interesting rune set that Voldemort had learned long ago, but was never useful unless dealing with another Dark Wizard. The scheme was totally harmless unless one of the Death Eaters attempted to use the Killing Curse on the marble, which would charge and activate the rune set. The marble would then be destroyed, but it was somewhat directional, so hopefully he'd have several of the Death Eaters in a line behind him, waiting to charge in. Harry finished the quick carving of the marble and levitated them in place, binding the marble blocks with a Sticking Charm to each other and the floor.

He was just in time, it seemed, because soon after, the door exploded inward and the sound of the Death Eaters could be heard.

"Merlin, another bloody block of marble! Blast it, Jugson." It was Carrow's voice that called out, and Harry was immediately looking forward to a rematch – it wouldn't be Harry's arm that was missing this time, he thought viciously.

"_Avada Kedavra!_" Harry, Moody, and the bartender put up shields as Harry had warned them to protect from the chunks of debris flying away from the resultant explosion, but the Death Eaters had it far worse. The explosion blew them away from the door in a hellacious fireball visible slightly on the outside through some of the cracks in the marble in the window.

"Ugh!" Most of the Death Eaters were moaning until one yelled, "Retreat!"

Moody clapped Harry on the back as he cackled wildly, one last Killing Curse coming through the door and splashing with a burn mark on the far wall. Even the grim bartender had a smile on his face, and that was when Harry recognized him.

"Dumbledore?" He asked incredulously. Moody turned to him with an even bigger grin on his face, "And why would you think that?"

"The smile…and your eyes. Not to mention it smells like goats in here…Aberforth?" The bartender's smile dropped and he wore a rather disapproving frown.

"Aye. Now, the drinks and the repairs come up to 400 galleons, boy." He said as he inspected the impacts of the Killing Curse on the walls, "Damned Dark Magic stains…need to Vanish the cursed thing to get it off…" Harry paid the barman and he and Moody Apparated back to Headquarters, where the entire Order – not just the drunken bachelor party-goers – awaited them.

"Some party, huh?" Harry began with a grin. The twins cheered uproariously at this, and Professor Flitwick fell out of his chair with a goofy smile and a raised glass of butterbeer.

"What in Merlin's name happened?" Mrs. Weasley yelled to Harry, who had reverted to his real appearance and was the only one seemingly coherent.

"Just a little gift from the Death Eaters to Remus. Unfortunately he wasn't in the right state to enjoy it like Harry and I were. Damned fools. They retreated and we came back here after Harry paid the bar tab. No big deal." Alastor said, all with a wide smile that few had ever seen the like of on his face.

"Oh how horrible! I knew it was a bad idea to –" Molly's tirade was interrupted by a weak Stunning spell that nonetheless dropped her like a rock before she was caught by a surprised Harry. Moody whistled and nodded his head sadly.

"Poor dear…must have been the stress. Alright, people, you're safe now, go back to your homes through that Floo." Moody turned to Harry and said, "Give me a copy of that explosive rune set tomorrow at the wedding and I might not ask you just where you got a hold of such a thing. Night. Oh, and nice work, Harry." It was the most complimentary thing that Alastor had ever said to Harry, and Harry was quite touched by it.

As it was close to three in the morning, however, Harry was also quite tired, so after he got Ron into bed, only having to Vanish his excreted stomach contents twice, he once more passed out on his own bed and slept soundly after extracting a promise from Tom to view Voldemort's tirade that night in a Pensieve later.

"And of course, they were right about Remus as a teacher – how many times did I pass out while learning that Patronus Charm, after all?" Harry joked at the end of his speech at the reception in the expanded dining room of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.

"But seriously, and speaking of, if Sirius were here he'd say the same, I'm sure, Remus' teaching must have been good, because he was the only competent teacher we had when we took our O.W.L.s and we all did well. We wish him the best, and I'll take up no more time with speeches, as I'm sure Tonks is itching to get this thing over with so she can have him to herself." Harry silenced the laughter with a grin and hitting his knife against his champagne glass with a grin and a wink at Remus, who obligingly kissed his new bride.

The ceremony had been simple, with Professor Dumbledore himself presiding over the small crowd – only Order members and the Tonks family, really. Andromeda Tonks, who'd been anxious to meet Harry for some time, apparently, complimented him on the house, saying that it looked better than it ever had when she visited as a child. Kreacher could hardly contain his pride, even if the compliment was from a "blood traitor bitch…but with good taste."

The reception was equally simple, though the roast pheasant was quite delicious and the cake looked extraordinary – the top layer charmed to change to a myriad of vivid colors in honor of Tonks, who was changing her hair to match. Harry finally lowered the lights with a wave of his wand and started the Wizarding Wireless he'd bought and played some of the Weird Sisters' music. They were Tonks' favorite, of course, and Harry was beginning to enjoy them as well. The couples' song, "Changing in the Moonlight With You," which was one of the least popular songs the Sisters ever recorded, was met with a round of tears all around, not least of all from Kreacher, but they soon dissipated when an energetic number came on next and everyone flooded the dance floor. Harry was contracted to dance with Hestia Jones, Maid of Honor, for the first number, and she turned out to be an extraordinarily talented dancer, so Harry kept with her – Tom had been quite graceful on the floor, to make up for Harry's prior inexperience.

Soon enough, though, the two separated; Harry made his rounds with all of the other witches there starting with Tonks herself and moving on to Hermione, Ginny, Professor McGonagall, Mrs. Figg, Mrs. Weasley, Mrs. Tonks, and even giving Remus a spin to much raucous applause and laughter. The twins thought this a fine idea and soon got in a contest with the couple as to just who could dance more outrageously. Harry and Remus' tango dancing was a close match to the twins' steamy samba.

It was quite the day, and a memorable one for all; the most extravagant gift that the new couple received was the secret that Harry shared with them – the location of Malfoy's French manor. Eventually, he intended to give it to the couple, but for now it was merely a vacation spot for them to use as they wanted. Remus objected, but Harry merely rolled his eyes at his posturing.

The following day, Christmas Eve, was equally exciting to mostly everyone due to the press conference that Harry snuck out of the Burrow to attend, merely Apparating away once he was in the bathroom.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, the benefactor himself, Harry Potter!" Harry grinned as he 'pop'ed in at just the perfect moment to thunderous applause in Diagon Alley.

"Thank you everyone, thanks. Just a short speech I've prepared, and then I'll go back to celebrating the hols. Now, you may think that you have me to thank for this record donation to St. Mungo's, but really you do not. That honor falls to the originator of the fortune, Mr. Lucius Malfoy. When I accused him of being a Death Eater and subsequently confiscating half of his fortune while he was imprisoned in Azkaban, I simply had no idea that he had done everything under the effects of the Imperius Curse as he claimed. And, to be honest, that was frightening to me. If a prominent citizen and skilled wizard like Mr. Malfoy can fall under the effects of the curse so easily – and repeatedly – then how have any of us got a chance? I decided that something had to be done, and so I contacted St. Mungo's to see if we could reach an agreement." Harry said, with varying emotions in his voice so convincingly that he was uncertain himself where they came from. Malfoy, sitting front and center of the crowd, though he'd had no idea why he was invited to the event, glared coldly at Harry throughout his speech.

"And I am pleased to announce the opening of two exciting new additions to the wonderful hospital. The Lucius Malfoy Memorial Imperius-Curse Clinical Research and Treatment Center will be located on the completely remodeled Spell Damage Ward. And also on that ward is the special Muggle Receiving Center, which focuses on presenting a familiar front to Muggles whose family members end up in the hospital. Notably, this Center will be linked to several leading Muggle hospitals, and run by Muggleborns specializing in Muggle relations so that we need not reveal magic to them at all while healing their family. And neither of these would be possible without the encouragement and generosity of Lucius Malfoy, a true gentle-wizard like few I've ever met!" Harry led the round of applause as the entire crowd leapt to its feet in applause to Lucius. Malfoy, for his part, was suffering the realization that Harry had gotten rid of half his considerable fortune – not to mention two properties he swore he used to own, but couldn't remember where they were located – and had yet to rise from his seat, his eyes wide and mouth open slightly.

The crowd called for a speech from Malfoy, which ended up mostly consisting of unintelligible mumbling and random thanks to St. Mungo's. The crowd applauded anyway, while Malfoy just looked incredulously at Potter. Previously, the boy had no political sense, but now…he'd taken away an incredible amount of money with crude manipulation of the laws which Malfoy could easily swing back his way to get back, and then given it away so securely that Malfoy couldn't think of doing anything but playing along. If Potter got any more ideas like this one, he'd be destitute!

Harry just grinned widely as he wrapped an arm around a still stunned Malfoy for pictures and then Apparated back to the Burrow, where the entire Weasley clan looked quite upset sitting in front of the Wireless. It appeared that they heard his speech…


	14. The New Term

A/N: Hello my faithful readers, I hope you enjoy this update

**A/N:** Hello my faithful readers, I hope you enjoy this update. In case you don't know, I've been altering updates with my other story, Harry Potter and the Alchemist's Apprentice. I've also been slipping in a bit of time for original fiction, but that isn't posted anywhere. In response to several of the reviews concerning currency of the wizarding world and Harry's wealth, I'll be saying a few words.

I didn't make up the "Galleon 5 pounds" thing, I think that's a JKR-ism from an interview. I do, however, support it. The wand is one object that we have no idea how valuable it is, but others we have some idea. Harry's schoolbooks are stated as being something like 7 – 13 galleons each, keeping in line with college textbooks. Apparition lessons in canon are 12 galleons, which is not totally out of line with Driver's Education at that exchange rate. So I apologize if the wand seems underpriced, but I certainly don't think that a galleon is anything near 100 or something like that. Ron may have been jealous about Harry giving away a galleon to him for the D.A., but remember that he gave away about 30 of them total, so Ron was likely thinking about the 300 total, and not his own 10.

But thanks for the close reading!

_**Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge**_

Chapter 14: The New Term

"Good morning, Professor McGonagall! I hope your Christmas break was wonderful!" Harry said cheerfully after he stepped out of the Professor's Floo.

"Indeed it was, Mr. Potter. I must say, your gift was unexpected and quite nice. I've never received such an intricate statue." She said with what appeared to be a hint of a smile. It disappeared after Ron and Ginny emerged, and she warned them, "Mind you don't get ash on the carpet, Mr. Weasley!" Before Harry responded, "Oh yes, Muggle porcelain, you know. I just gave them a photo of your cat form and they did the rest. Quite good work, I thought. Have a nice day in your classes, Professor!" Unlike previous years, Harry had gotten Christmas presents for just about everyone he knew and liked. He even sent one to Snape, though he doubted he would be getting any thanks for the rare and expensive Demiguise hairs. Regardless, Tom respected Snape even if Harry still thought him a git.

"Come on, Harry," Ron said, "Hermione'll probably be waiting for us at the common room." Harry somehow restrained himself from commenting on Ron's noticeable excitement at the prospect of seeing Hermione again. They were turned away by the Fat Lady when she, clutching her head, grumpily told them that the password had been changed.

"Ron! Harry!" They heard Hermione call out, "There you are! I've been back for ages, spending some time in the library before classes. The new password is '_Abstinence_'." She finished somewhat breathlessly.

"Quite right, my dear." The Fat Lady said as she swung aside and they went through to the Gryffindor dormitories.

"She's been rather terrible today, I'm afraid. I heard that she and Violet got into some wine in the portraits down by –" Hermione started with a roll of her eyes. Harry interrupted her as he noticed a large crowd gathering.

"What's going on here?" He said, interrupting her explanation. Ron hurried to the front of the crowd and saw a sign advertising Apparition lessons that would soon be starting. Harry nearly had to laugh at the thought of Tom's Apparition lessons, which were unhelpful and useless. Since he could already Apparate to France and back, he figured that he didn't exactly need any lessons that the Ministry could teach him.

"That'll be wicked, no, Harry? Go wherever you want whenever you want…I can go to Honeydukes all summer!" Ron grew quite excited at this prospect.

"Oh, definitely! It will be ever so useful, of course…I wonder if Flourish & Blotts has their own expected Apparition point or if anywhere is fine…" Hermione's thoughts trailed away at this.

"12 galleons, though," Ron said somewhat warily, "That's pretty pricey…Good thing Dad is getting promoted at the Ministry, otherwise I don't know." Harry of course would have taken care of it for his friend if that had been the case, but merely kept silent.

"What about you, Harry, where do you want to Apparate to?" Harry looked questioningly at Seamus, who'd asked, and replied, "Away from Voldemort," before grabbing his Charms book and leaving the common room with the large group of Gryffindors. Hermione was next to him and leaned over to his ear.

"I got this from Professor Dumbledore, today, Harry. I think it's for another one of your meetings with him." She said as she slipped him the scroll of parchment; he merely nodded slightly. Around him, the Gryffindors were still discussing what they'd do when they could Apparate.

"Reckon I could go to just about any football game I want to, once I can Apparate! Support West Ham abroad!" Dean Thomas was saying excitedly to Seamus.

"Yeah, and trips to the pub every night! I could even go to McDon's back home!" Seamus replied with a gleam – and possibly a tear – in his eye.

"You know, Apparition isn't that common amongst adult wizards. Most Ministry employees use the Floo for everyday travel. Less risk of splinching." Harry said casually to them. This, of course, set their conversation on the less pleasant topic of splinching.

"I heard of a wizard back in Ireland who was missing his head for a full half hour. Muggles were all drunk, though, so they didn't even notice!" Seamus said in one of the more outlandish stories. When they arrived in class and Professor Flitwick started, no one paid much attention and were instead focused on Apparition, leading to a rather unproductive lesson.

That night, Harry skipped out of dinner a bit early to fetch the books he'd borrowed at his last meeting with Dumbledore. They were all quite interesting books, full of powerful and dangerous magicks and ward schemes. Of particular interest was the personal grimoire of Gellert Grindelwald, feared Dark Lord of the mid-20th century. Harry had studiously copied almost the entire contents of that tome as he'd learned the myriad of nasty curses and spells contained within. They were especially designed to be fast and deadly, which suited Harry just fine when he was fighting Death Eaters.

And so, eight o'clock found him sitting in the Headmaster's office as he and Dumbledore began the "lesson".

"So, Harry, I hope your break was enjoyable." Harry grinned at this.

"Oh, I had an excellent time, Professor. Remus and Tonks' wedding was lovely." Harry said, avoiding the topic Dumbledore was really interested in.

"It certainly was. And Grimmauld Place has never looked better, Harry – extraordinary how you've managed to earn the respect of Kreacher, even if he did spit on my own shoes when I attempted to talk to him." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as he smiled mirthfully.

"I'm sure he was just offering a spit shine, Professor. He has a penchant for old fashioned things like that, I've found."

"Very nice job on St. Mungo's as well. Though from what I've heard about the press conference, Lucius was less than informed prior to the announcement." Dumbledore settled into one of the true topics of the meeting.

"Oh, did I forget to send that owl to him? How careless of me. Oh well, what's done is done," Harry said nonchalantly, causing Dumbledore to smile once more.

"I'm sure, Harry. However, I must say that it was quite a security risk for you, going there without any kind of protection – had you informed me, I would have been happy to provide a few Order members –"

"That's alright, Professor, no one knew I was going there. Safety through public ignorance. Besides, I could have Apparated or Portkeyed to safety if things blew up." Dumbledore looked thoughtful, but finally nodded in reluctant agreement.

"I suppose so, Harry. But I do hope that you are not taking your safety for granted – Voldemort has many informants, so you should not take him for ignorant unless you are quite sure. In any case, that is not the primary intention of our meeting. Do you have any questions about the memories of Tom Riddle's early life, Harry?" _Ha! There is so much you don't even know, Professor, that Harry should be asking you!_ Tom thought with a smile.

"No, Professor, I think I understand him quite well. I did want to bring back these books I borrowed previously, and perhaps discuss some of them?" Harry handed back the pile, Grindelwald's grimoire shoved between the two warding books, to Dumbledore, who paused when he revealed the untitled black book.

"I…see. I take it that you found some of the potent magic in Gellert's book?" Dumbledore said, his eyes never leaving it.

"I did, sir. Several of them were, like the Bone-Shattering Curse, were just variations on existing curses." Dumbledore nodded slightly.

"Yes, Gellert was excellent at tweaking spells like that. Take a spell that everyone knows, make it quicker, easier to cast, more powerful. It made him devilish in a fight, I can tell you, perhaps better than any before him." Dumbledore finally looked back at Harry, the twinkle gone from his eyes.

"So that's why you were able to defeat him? Because he shared his knowledge with you?" Harry asked. The situation seemed to be remarkably similar to his own, in fact. Voldemort, undefeated until Harry comes along and, hopefully, bests him with his own secrets.

"Partially. But, in that fight…neither of us wanted to kill the other. I don't even know if either of us wanted to win. There's a reason it was called the greatest duel of the century, Harry. It was long, wearisome, and the magic thrown around was complex. Voldemort's duels could never be that way, because he'd grow tired or bored and shoot off Killing Curses until his opponent died. With Gellert and I…capture was the intended goal. Or maybe his was to drive me off." Things started to make sense to Harry now; indeed, Dumbledore's tone when he spoke of Grindelwald all but gave away his feelings.

"It must have been hard to fight someone you loved, Professor." Dumbledore peered rather intently at Harry and, though he felt no intrusion of Legilimancy, he felt that Dumbledore saw right through him.

"It was the hardest thing I've ever done, Harry. Much harder than flinging about the magic." Quickly, he changed the subject, "Well, why don't you have another look at the bookshelf of mine there, Harry. Now, the book I used to erect the wards on Privet Drive were not in the book you borrowed, but instead in this one, written by one of my illustrious predecessors to the position of Headmaster. And here we have the most comprehensive source on Horcruxes that I've ever seen. Quite a horrible book, really, but terribly informative. I'm almost reluctant to show it to you, to be honest, but I promised you access. Here's another compendium penned by Alastor Moody about the curses he faced in his career as an Auror. The Ministry didn't approve of the knowledge being so accessible, even to its Dark Wizard catchers, so I believe that I have the only available copy." Harry almost thought to press the aged wizard for more information on Grindelwald, but obviously Professor Dumbledore would rather hand Harry the Darkest book he owned than discuss it, so he just let it die. Perhaps further discussion would have told how he had loved someone as notoriously evil as Grindelwald. No one was a saint, it seemed, not even Professor Dumbledore.

A few more minutes of discussion and Harry was ushered out of Dumbledore's office and told to return to Gryffindor Tower. He rather suspected that his lessons with Dumbledore had come to an end, unfortunately.

The following day found Harry in Potions class with Ron and Hermione, a rather interesting lesson on the horizon for them. Antidotes were difficult material, and identifying the poison an even more challenging prospect. Poisons were, however, well within the scope of Voldemort's focus of the subject.

The poison contained within his vial, a dirty black substance, could have been any number of different poisons, which is one reason he picked it. Several others he knew instantly from their coloring. The garish pink was, of course, Choleric Bowel Emptying Poison. An orange one was quite obviously a Skin-Eating Topical – excellent when used in torture, Tom knew. This black one, however, was mysterious. And likely rare.

Slughorn was trotting around from cauldron to cauldron, seeing the progress of each student, most of whom were trying to separate out the ingredients of each poison using a Revealing spell. Amateurs, as Harry knew. A poison was more than components, and it was fairly difficult to do anything more than narrow down the family of poisons using those spells. Instead, poison identification required something a bit more inherently dangerous.

Harry removed the cap from his poison and let the odor assault his nostrils. Acrid, sharp scent not unlike ammonia. It assaulted his nose viciously. Unfortunately the scent was too overpowering to aid him any, so he put one finger over the end of the vial and flipped it over, wetting his finger

By this point, he'd attracted the attention of Hermione, who was whispering that he was crazy. But he knew it wasn't a Skin-Eating poison, so any damage externally would likely be quickly reversible. Anything else…well, he was supposed to brew the antidote anyway. He stuck the poisoned finger in his mouth, and the taste brought back memories of Voldemort's own experience identifying and dealing with poisons.

"HARRY! What are you doing! Are you mad?!" Hermione screeched shrilly as she watched. Harry ignored her, focusing on the poison.

Noxious taste, and thick like boiled fat.

_Hmm, yes…I believe I have it! With the black color, sharp scent, and fatty taste…and yes, your heart is definitely having palpitations. Deverrie's Heart Stopper is the poison._ Instantly, Harry knew that Tom was right, even as Harry's brow furrowed with sweat as the poison went to work. He ignored it and quickly boiled the water in his cauldron with a rushed wave of his wand. He threw in a few other ingredients from his potions kit and went to work, Tom taking his attention away from his sluggish limbs and unfocused mind from lack of blood flow. As quick as the potion went to work, the antidote was quick to brew, so in fifteen minutes he scooped a sample and drank it down.

After a minute, he opened his eyes to see the entire class watching him with baited breath, Slughorn himself with his nose an inch from Harry's, looking at him, his monocle making his left eye comically large.

"I say, are you alright, my boy?!" Slughorn finally asked, removing himself from Harry's personal space. Harry smiled reassuringly at the professor and his awed classmates.

"Yeah, fine," he said, his voice only slightly rough, "The antidote works." Ron was the first one to chuckle appreciatively and slap him on the back, Harry grinning somewhat lopsidedly at his friend. Hermione wore a death glare aimed at both of them.

"My, my, Harry! Forty points to Gryffindor for sheer daring and marvelous brewing!" The Slytherin side of the classroom looked less than pleased – and Malfoy was eyeing his potion carefully, as though considering something similar for forty points – but all of the other students congratulated Harry and were asking him what it was like.

"My heart started beating irregularly, so that was really how I identified the poison, along with the color, taste, and smell. I think that it's important to use all of your senses in identifying poisons. Of course, some of that information – maybe everything but taste – can be used along with the known ingredients to get results without potentially killing yourself. Or rotting away your flesh or anything." Malfoy immediately tossed away his vial he'd been eyeing so keenly when Harry declared this, much to his amusement.

"Excellent points, Mr. Potter! Take another ten points for Gryffindor for such excellent instruction! Everyone, try to narrow down your poisons based on color and then cross reference the results of Scarpin's Revealaspell!" The students, even with the extra information about their poisons, generally were unsuccessful. Since the book had not organized the poisons by color, it was a lengthy process to find each poison possibility, so most were throwing in random ingredients by the handful to the antidotes. Hermione, however, had moderate success; though rushed, she was able to turn in a passable anti-venom to one of a Runespoor's toxins, which was the correctly identified poison in her vial.

Harry was half tempted to tell Ron, whose potion resembled drying tar, to just crush up a bezoar and hand it to Slughorn, but figured that only he could have gotten away with such cheek; Ron may have been liked, since his father was almost certainly going to be the new long term head of the DMLE and he himself was getting publicity for Quidditch, but he still wasn't Harry Potter.

"Excellent work, Ms. Granger! I see you took Mr. Potter's suggestion in narrowing down your possible poison. A bit more time, and you'd have done marvelously!" Slughorn said, beaming at her potion, which was easily the second-best next to Harry's. She smiled somewhat snidely at him, and quickly packed up her supplies, leaving Harry as the last in the room as Slughorn made certain that his favorite student was having no adverse effects from the bit of poison he'd drank. Harry waved him off easily, promising to visit Madam Pomfrey if he felt his heart stop, and hit the hallway when he packed up his supplies.

Hermione was waiting for him in the hall. Expecting a lecture, he didn't say anything and just waited for her to speak as they walked side by side.

"You know, Harry, I just can't figure it out," she finally said thoughtfully. "I initially thought the Imperius Curse, but everyone knows that you can resist that easily. Even full-blown possession is out for that reason, after your experience at the Ministry last June. Then I thought a Polyjuiced impersonator, but I've been watching you and you don't take a drink every hour. Metamorphmagi are too rare, and I don't think its Tonks impersonating you, since you were at her wedding. Besides, you've made an effort to remain friends with Ron and I…and even Neville and Luna, I suppose. But you're just so different, that I don't understand. I refuse to believe nothing happened over the summer. I want to be your friend, Harry, but I can't unless you trust me." During her rant, they both slowed until they were finally stopped in the hall. Harry realized that this was it – if he wanted Hermione, and likely Ron, to remain friends with him, then he needed to explain his sudden change in behavior.

"Work on Occlumency. I can't have everyone knowing, so I need to know that it can't be plucked out of your head before I tell you. Same goes with Ron…and I don't think he'll lend himself well to it, so it might be just you that knows." Her eyes widened slightly at the confirmation of her suspicions, but she nodded fervently.

"Does Professor Dumbledore know?" A look from Harry told her all she needed to know, and she became slightly guarded as she nodded slowly. She suddenly swept him into a hug and whispered, "Thank you for trusting me," before running off to her next class, which for Harry was a break.

With the stress of disclosure going from likely to imminent, if not necessarily soon, Harry felt the need for destruction and readied himself for a workout in his training room.

All day Saturday was also spent in the room, this time going over the new batch of books from Professor Dumbledore's office. A small ball of fire was hovering ten feet away from Harry, and sweat was beading on his brow as he focused rather intently on it. Unlike normal fire, this had a sense of wrongness to it, and the flames wicked out as though resisting any kind of containment. It was Fiendfyre, one of the most dangerous Dark magicks; primordial, cursed fire that burnt everything it touched.

Fiendfyre, Harry had known from Tom, was one of the easiest curses to cast – most first years, even, would be able to call it forth. However, once summoned, it was terrifyingly difficult to control, and constantly sought, as though through its own will, to get free and burn everything around it. It was only now, once he had gotten quite a bit of practice with so many other curses and improved his wand skills so much, that he dared even experiment with a bit of the cursed fire. It was a potent weapon, but just as likely to kill an unskilled caster as it was their enemy. It took every ounce of skill and concentration, but he could hold the fire and eradicate it at will now, his longest attempt so far ten minutes of a ball that expanded, contracted, and moved at his will. Voldemort, of course, could easily control the cursed fire, but had had years of first-hand experience using it as an implement of terror to learn it. Harry thought his own progress was quite good.

When the door to his training room was slowly opened, Harry quickly put out the cursed fire and was very surprised to find that the protections on the room were not quite as impenetrable as he'd previously thought.

"Mr. Potter, I was hoping to find you here!" A squeaky voice that Harry hadn't heard much outside of Charms class declared. "You're quite possibly the most challenging student to locate that I've ever encountered!"

"Uh…Professor Flitwick, what a pleasant surprise. Is there something I can do for you this evening? Trouble with my Charms homework, perhaps?" Harry began easily. If Flitwick could work his way through the layer of spells Harry had put on the room to prevent wayward students from disturbing him, then the diminutive professor was not to be underestimated.

"Not at all, Harry! Your work this past term has been splendid, much finer than in years past! You seem to have put a bit more thought into your studies; it is quite refreshing, from a student with as much raw potential as you've always shown. No, instead I came by to discuss the events of this past winter's break with you." Flitwick said, conjuring up a small chair as he motioned for Harry to do the same. Harry, with a bit more thought than Flitwick used, managed to conjure up a similarly comfortable stuffed seat for himself.

"Is that so, Professor? I imagine you're referring to the Death Eater attack on the Hog's Head pub during Remus' bachelor party?" Harry said, still cautious as he was uncertain as to what Flitwick wanted.

"Yes, Harry, precisely! Excellent conjuration, as well, by the way, I must give Minerva my compliments," Harry smiled indulgently at him as he continued, "You see, I was quite…incapacitated that night, but I managed to see that you have a remarkable natural skill at using magic in combat, Harry."

"Thank you, Professor. I've worked hard at it, given my history."

"Of course, Harry, that's wonderful. I did, however, notice that some of your techniques were…unconventional, shall I say? May I assume that you are primarily self-taught?" Harry considered this carefully. Voldemort had, in his travels, fought with and against many different people. He'd even fought under a few people, in the early stages of his delving into Dark magic. But for the most part, these people had always allowed him to learn on his own, rarely offering formal instruction. Particularly since Voldemort was so powerful, he'd never really needed to rely on anything except his frightful proficiency with Unforgivable curses and the skill and power to put behind them. Harry had gotten some rudimentary instruction from Moody this summer, as well, but he had still mostly gotten by on his own.

"Yes, that's correct, Professor, I'm mostly self-taught." Flitwick nodded eagerly at this pronouncement.

"Ah, then might you allow me, in thanks for that night, to be of some assistance?" Flitwick said, eager even by his own standards.

"Er…just what are you offering, Professor?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, I don't know if you knew this, Harry, but in my youth I was an International Dueling Champion. I think that I can help you learn some of the more traditional skills that duelists have, to complement your own nontraditional techniques." Seeing Harry unsold on the idea, he continued quickly, "Most of the wizards you fight will only know of these techniques, Harry, so if you know them, and their weaknesses, then you might be able to better counter them." This did sound tempting to Harry, even if it meant another thing he'd be forced to juggle in his already taxing schedule.

"What kinds of things can you teach me, Professor?" Flitwick grinned eagerly at his question.

Harry was surprised when the door to his sanctuary burst open to reveal Ron, Hermione, and Neville all with exasperated expressions on their faces, but not nearly as surprised as they were to see Harry with his arms around a mannequin as he twirled with it around. Professor Flitwick, standing on a table, seemed to be conducting both the instrumental music playing and the mannequin's path around the floor.

"Er…Harry?" Neville asked, saying what was on all of their minds. Harry glanced at them, but kept dancing, ignoring them until he completed the rather elaborate routine. The mannequin bowed to him – he rolled his eyes in response – and finally Harry turned to his friends.

"Hello," he said as though nothing were odd about the scene, "What's wrong with you three? Apparition lessons go okay?"

"Just the bloody git of an Apparition teacher. I swear if I'd heard the 'Three D's' one more time, I would've kicked the stumpy little –"

"Honestly, Ron, he was just trying to help! I think that Apparition is just a very difficult thing to master!" Hermione said, predictably defending poor instruction as she had time and again.

"Harry does it easily enough. What's the secret, Harry?" Ron said, obviously the reason that he, and maybe the others, had shown up here.

"Harry, if you'll excuse me, I'll make my exit now, I've several stacks of papers awaiting grades. Excellent work today, keep in mind what we discussed and I'll see you next Saturday to continue the lessons!" Flitwick said, smiling brightly but leaving the mannequin with Harry. As he left, Harry turned to his friends to address their questions.

"Not really a secret…You just picture where you want to go, then picture yourself kinda…popping in there. Add in a bit of magic and bam, Apparition." Harry said, not thinking it would help his friends any. Ron, however, seemed to consider it.

"That's basically what Professor Tofty – that's the Ministry-approved Apparition Instructor, Harry – said the whole time. Some people just didn't listen properly." She said, eyeing Ron disapprovingly.

"Oh come on, what Harry said makes loads more sense than some idiotic D's. Maybe if he'd said that, people would actually have Apparated, instead of just one splinching." Harry winced appropriately. Tom's own Apparition instruction was likewise poor, and most of the class had splinched at some point. Besides himself, of course.

"Well, I suppose it was slightly better, but Professor Tofty was just trying to use alliteration to help everyone remember, Ron. It's a commonly used mnemonic." Harry rolled his eyes at his friends, but Ron thanked him for the advice and told him that he'd see if he couldn't show up Hermione's mnemonic next week with Harry's sound explanation. Harry chuckled slightly as the girl rolled her eyes. Ron and Neville left, leaving Hermione alone with Harry.

"Harry? What was that bit with Professor Flitwick about? Taking formal dance lessons?" She inquired mischievously, her lips quirked into a smile, "Does Katie know about this? Or is she behind it?" Harry's eyes narrowed dangerously, but the smirk he couldn't keep off his lips ruined the look.

"Actually, I've just bought into all that Pureblood propaganda and I'll be attending fancy balls from now on. And no, I've not seen Katie, so she probably doesn't know. Was something on your mind?" A silly question, really, since there was always _something_ on the girl's mind.

"Well, I've read all about Occlumency over the past weak – why don't you try to break into my mind so I can show you what I've learned." Harry raised an eyebrow and got an amused smirk on his face. Of course, Hermione would believe that she could learn Occlumency in a week from a book.

"_Legilimens_!" He said, easily penetrating her mind as images flashed through their minds. Harry decided to go after every time Hermione had displayed any kind of affection for him, so he was bombarded with stunning smiles, tight hugs, and kisses on his cheek, which he managed to replay time and again for her in slow motion. When he finished, he was smiling broadly at her deep blush, and she just turned around on her heel and said, "Fine, I'll keep practicing…"

February flew bye for the Sixth years, most of whom were kept quite busy between increasingly difficult coursework and Apparition lessons. Human transfiguration lessons had continued under Professor McGonagall's tutelage, and even Ron had managed to progress quite well with it; he had to, because Harry and Hermione constantly gave him Snape's nose and greasy long hair, occasionally changed to the mid-back length white hair and beard, along with the crooked nose, of Professor Dumbledore for some variety, during each lesson until he learned to reverse it and attempt some revenge of his own. Anything more than this basic alteration of features was generally beyond sixth year material, but Harry had once given Ron a particularly persistent beard when he gave Ron cat hair.

Silent casting, the standard for N.E.W.T. level in all classes, continued to give many students trouble in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense. Snape's constant testing of their repertoire, all non-verbal, of course, was particularly challenging to most students. His many repetitive lectures to a red-faced class on the necessity of variety in Spellwork was a constant source of frustration to some students, who looked up diarrhea-inducing spells, vertigo spells, and headache curses just for the chance to test them on Snape in revenge. Unfortunately, Snape nearly constantly used Legilimency on his students, and could tell when those stray curses were about to "accidentally" hit him in the back. Students with such poor aim were always assigned difficult additional homework, and the behavior eventually died down.

Charms class, even, was frustrating between Professor Flitwick's cheery attitude and the difficult Bubblehead Charm that the sixth years started. The diminutive professor told them that it was one of the constants on the N.E.W.T. Charms examination, though, so they all knew that their suffering was at least going to be worthwhile.

Potions class, at least, was a relief for them because, although their work with antidotes remained challenging and involved copious notetaking by most of the class, they could at least occasionally talk to a partner or curse when a boiling solution sprayed out of their cauldrons. Herbology was similarly cathartic for the students for the same reasons – Venomous Tentacula didn't mind course language, so Ron in particular waxed poetic while he was able.

Harry's friends all kept busy in their extracurricular activities as well. Ron, Hermione, and Katie were all very close to completing their Animagus transformations – even though Katie, due to the upcoming N.E.W.T.s, was unable to work as frequently in the training room. Neville, who'd focused mostly on working with Ginny and Luna, had brought them up to speed with himself and they now worked together to fight off the golems or practice their wandless magic. Neville's shields were instantaneous and powerful, now, and he'd started simple transfigurations, even though it was academically one of his weakest subjects. Inspired by the success of the three, as well as Harry's infrequent but impressive displays, he too wanted to become an Animagus.

Harry himself was kept quite busy between learning the Dark magic that Dumbledore had given him, which he most often did late at night after the others had gone away to finish homework or sleep, or his odd but undeniably effective lessons with Professor Flitwick. The others hadn't questioned Harry's use of the violent and somewhat vicious magic, but all the same they felt less comfortable around him when he was conjuring up Fiendfyre, and he certainly had never shown that to Professor Flitwick.

The diminutive dueling master's lessons were altogether unconventional. The dancing routine, it turned out, was Flitwick's own creation, and modeled his standard set of twirls, spins, dips, and dives to avoid curses and hexes. The professor must have been in incredible shape when he was younger, because it was more taxing to Harry than fighting off the three golems. Flitwick also showed Harry the simpler dodging routines commonly employed and their weaknesses, which he was more likely to encounter. It seemed that a practiced routine, even if predictable, was easier because it freed the mind to cast spells instead of dodging without casting, as Harry had constantly done before. Harry had even tweaked the routine just slightly to incorporate a few dodges that he and Tom had worked out in their own training, and Flitwick was pleased with the additions.

In addition to dancing, which eventually incorporated cleaning charms cast strategically throughout the routine, Flitwick would limit Harry to a single non-dueling charm while he himself employed more traditional tactics. Harry's victory with only Cheering Charms was his finest moment in this exercise, as Flitwick was reduced to a smiling heap on the floor, while Harry sported bruises, nicks, cuts, and was in general disarray.

February fourteenth, one of the most important days of the year to young, amorous witches, went by relatively uneventfully for Harry. So focused was he on training that other than an expensive bouquet of flowers owl ordered from Diagon Alley and a box from Honeydukes for Katie, with smaller boxes for Hermione, Luna, and – though it was against his better judgment – Ginny, the day went by like any other. So concentrated was he on Flitwick's new lessons that he didn't notice Katie's attempt to dress up in something slightly more feminine and appealing than her usual outfit, nor did he notice her crestfallen look when she left for the night.

As crazy as his schedule was, then, it was little surprise that Ron's birthday and the month of March approached so quickly and unannounced. Just two days before the first, which fell on a Saturday, Professor Dumbledore announced that the Hogsmeade visit would unfortunately be cancelled, much to Ron's disappointment. As a consolation, Harry promised fresh butterbeer for him, which improved his mood only a little. When Saturday came, however, Ron's excitement returned in full force as he woke up the entire boys' dormitory.

"Harry! Presents, mate! It's my birthday!" A load of presents littered the ground in front of his bed, more than Harry had ever seen for a birthday outside of Dudley's. His own large gift, finely wrapped in foil paper thanks to Kreacher, sat at the bottom of the pile.

Ron received candies from most of his friends in Gryffindor tower, of course, and a large book from Hermione about the development of magical candies along with a box of chocolate frogs that made Ron grin and laugh aloud – "Probably wants me to charm my own chocolate frogs!" His parents had given him a shiny new gold watch – a wizard's watch, of course, with planets that circled the center in a way that Harry supposed one got used to, but was bewildering at first – and his older brothers had gotten him a full case of Ogden's Finest Firewhiskey, which he promised to share with Harry later.

Philbert Deverill and Einion Llewellyn from the Puddlemere United Quidditch team also both left presents for their sponsored Keeper – apparently they were quite keen on getting on his good side. Ron's countless Cannons paraphernalia had a rival to Puddlemere, with all of the posters, signed, of course, and jerseys of each starting player. Ron could – and proceeded to, that first week of March – wear a different Puddlemere jersey each day of the week.

Harry's two gifts, wrapped together, however, made him gasp when he opened them. The first was a single box that held a red quaffle that said "training quaffle" written in quill in Harry's own pen. This was special, because he'd charmed the thing himself. It was similar to a bludger, in that it flew by its own power, but would stay within normal scoring distance of the hoops and pelt itself at them unless Ron stopped it. Unlike the bludgers, it only got a burst of speed at the beginning, like a real quaffle.

The larger box was not quite so personal, but contained six tiny golden hoops that would be enlarged to full size and set up behind the Burrow, as well as a full set of brand new balls. The case itself was a small trunk of tinted red cherry wood, and gorgeous golden lettering, the initials R.B.W., embossed on the top of it. Ron thought it far too extravagant, but Harry waved it off with a smile.

The day was mostly spent finishing homework and working on a bit of training – though Ron and Hermione had taken a break to exchange what Harry could only imagine was a more private gift that left him with even more of a goofy smile than he started with – as well as a bit of a pick-up Quidditch game on the Nimbus 2100's and with Ron's new set of balls. He also played around with the practice quaffle, which was apparently charmed only too well, as it was blocked much less often than even Katie's shots. Ron got a determined scowl on his face at the end, and grumbled about practicing a bit more with it later as he took off with Harry back to Gryffindor tower.

When he stormed through the portrait entrance, mud all over him from the hours of play outside, he stared a bit as the entire occupancy of the tower lounged about the common room. Snacks littered the common room tables as what seemed to be half the inventory of Honeydukes was spread around Gryffindor tower. Harry smiled as he saw his owl order, the other half of Ron's birthday gift, put to good use.

"Happy birthday, Ron – here's the other half of your gift, since we couldn't take you to Honeydukes!" Harry said over the din. Ron smiled brightly at his best friend and smacked him on the back before rushing off to the table and grabbing two great handfuls of the candy. Harry helped himself to a licorice wand before he was accosted by a witch he'd spent part of the past two weeks trying to avoid – Hermione had warned Harry that Romilda Vane had snuck love potions into Valentine's Day chocolates for Harry, and it seemed that she was right, as the boy-crazy girl had tried several times unsuccessfully to accost him in the hallways. Now, however, it seemed unavoidable as he saw the boys' dormitory entrance was blocked by the beaters on his own team.

"Harry! I've been trying to get you alone for ages now! You are very good at avoiding people when you want to," she said slyly. '_Apparently not quite good enough…_' He thought with a grimace.

"Anyway, I bought these candies for you for Valentine's Day and I've just been trying to give them to you. So here you go!" Romilda said, thrusting the chocolates in his hand before winking and walking away in a manner she no doubt thought seductive. Harry managed to avoid vomiting, but it was a close thing.

'_Apparently the chase through the hallways ending in you hiding behind the statue of the One-Eyed Witch wasn't enough of a clue for her_." Tom said, amused.

"Hey, mate, what're those? Holding out on me, eh?" Ron said, grabbing to box of chocolates. Before Harry could say 'love potion', Ron had shoved three of them into his mouth.

"Go' 'o 'ample 'em 'irst, 'arry!" Ron said through the food. A glazed look very suddenly came over his eyes as two of the chocolates, some of the potion inside dripping out of Ron's mouth, fell to the ground.

"Ron? Ron, are you alright?" Harry asked concernedly. He knew Ron would need to be taken to see Professor Slughorn pretty soon here – Tom may have been able to name a poison from a mile away, but love potions were never exactly Voldemort's specialty.

"Oh…what? No, I'm great, Harry! Hey, have you seen Romilda Vane? Where is she at?" Ron started dreamily, but ended by loudly addressing his questions to the entirety of the tower. No guessing whether the love potion worked, Harry thought with a sigh.

"Sure you are, Ron." Harry spotted a red-faced Romilda Vane that everyone was backing away from about the same time Ron did.

"There she is! Romilda!" Unfortunately bad went to worse as Hermione walked up, confused.

"Ron? Are you feeling alright? Is there anything I can –"

"Sure is, Hermione! Look, we can't kiss any more. You're just a friend." Ron said somewhat harshly to the bewildered girl. "I'm in love with Romilda Vane – she's the most wonderful, beautiful creature on this earth!" Ron said, announcing clearly his morning's activities to everyone. Most chuckled, and a few outright laughed. Harry winced as Hermione turned redder than even Romilda before turning to Harry with tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong with him?" She demanded, turning her anger on her friend; this time, though, Harry didn't really mind.

"Love potion. Look, I need to take him to Slughorn. Bugger," Harry swore as Ron yanked out of his grip on his arm and made to head toward Romilda before Hermione grabbed him.

"Look, Hermione," Ron started angrily, "It was just a snog! We aren't dating! Romilda and I are going to be together forever, so bugger off!" The laughter had stopped now, the house growing quiet at Ron's tirade. Hermione withdrew her arm as though she'd been visibly stricken.

"_Stupefy_!" Harry said with just a bit more force than necessary. Ron was flung across the room, impacting with the wall with enough force to have knocked him unconscious again. As Harry levitated his unconscious friend, a Hermione who was tear-streaked but had turned to anger and an equally angry Katie Bell – it was almost her boyfriend who'd eaten the candies, not that Harry would have, after all – advanced on a humiliated Romilda Vane, penned in by her classmates. Harry winced at the sound of two smacks and the rising voices of two violent teenaged girls as he and Ron made their way through the portrait. By the time he closed it, wands had been drawn and Hermione had thrown the first of what would assuredly be many inventive hexes at the girl. Harry, however, couldn't quite force himself to feel sorry for the younger girl.

"Harry, my boy! What can I – oh dear!" Slughorn exclaimed loudly as Harry entered his office, an unconscious Ron sprawled in the air behind him.

"Hello, Professor. I'm afraid Ron here ate a love-potion laced chocolate that was meant for me. Had to knock him out to prevent Hermione Granger from killing him." Slughorn peered intently at Harry at this revelation – Harry may have cursed Ron with a Slughorn attempting to fix him up with his favorite bookworm, after all – but nodded sharply.

"I see, Harry…when were these sweets from?" Harry was a bit confused at first, but then remembered how love potions tended to get stronger with age.

"Er…probably from Valentine's Day, sir. The lady in question has been trying to corner me with them for some time, I suppose." Harry said, as Slughorn cleared off a bit of table in front of his row of ingredients and pulled out a small cauldron.

"Oh dear my, that makes things more complex!" He said somewhat cheerfully as he anticipated the challenge, "Age does increase the potency for love potions, after all. It might be just a bit tricky…aha! Here we are, camel spat! No surer thing to nip a love potion's effects. Takes the amorous out of anything, it does." The thick loogie oozed out of the small vial into the cauldron as Slughorn mixed it with quite a few other gross ingredients. Harry swore he saw 'troll boogers' on one jar, but Slughorn had removed it too quickly. He certainly didn't envy Ron having to drink this potion.

"Alright, Harry, why don't you wake young Ron up?" Harry complied with a silent spell as Ron woke up groggily, his hand on his head.

"Harry? Have you seen Romilda? I need to tell her how much I love her!" Ron said as his head cleared.

"Right, sure Ron. But…why don't you take this headache reliever and breath-freshening potion first?" Harry said as he indicated the cauldron of Professor Slughorn's. Slughorn winked at him as he handed Ron the potion.

"Wow…it does both?" Ron asked, eyeing the potion skeptically. Harry very nearly knocked him out and shoved it down his throat.

"Absolutely, I had Professor Slughorn brew it up special for you. Bottoms up, mate!" Ron shrugged and drank the contents before nearly gagging.

"Ugh, that was bloody awful! There's no way that was a breath freshening potion! Now Romilda…wait a mo'…why would Romilda Vane care what my breath smells like?" Ron said, looking around confused.

"Love potion, she tried to slip me one in some chocolates that you ate." Harry said easily as Ron looked confused, his head clearing.

"Ugh, happy birthday to me, eh mate?" Harry smiled at Ron's look; Ron's face soon dropped, however.

"Did I…I didn't say anything to Hermione, right?" Ron finally said, the tips of his ears growing red.

"You know, I think you might have mentioned something…oh yeah! The snog was meaningless and you are in love with Romilda Vane. When'd you snog Hermione, mate?" Ron's face whitened and Harry very nearly thought he would pass out again.

"Ronald, my boy! In these cases, I always find that a bit of a drink can help one summon up the courage to talk to the offended lass! Since it's your coming-of-age and all that, I have no problem fetching a glass of my finest mead!" Slughorn bustled off to his desk, where he withdrew a cask.

"Hmm, was going to give this to the Headmaster for Christmas, but…best not to let it go to waste!" Slughorn said as he busily cracked it open. Ron took the time to look seriously at Harry.

"She's going to kill me, isn't she?" His voice quivered slightly, but Harry just laughed.

"Nah, I think she got most of it out on Romilda. Poor girl, but I guess it serves her right. Anyway, I think the best apologies lead with a kiss." Harry said with a smile. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Oh really? Sorry for eating your chocolates, then, mate!" Ron said, puckering up before Slughorn shoved a drink in both of their hands.

Ron thanked him with a nod and took a large gulp for courage, quickly followed by another, longer draw.

"That's really smo- uh…" Ron dropped the glass, shattering it, as he clutched his head and quickly started seizing a bit, falling to the floor. Harry eyed his own glass quickly, also with a quick smell, as Slughorn looked on, bewildered. Harry cast a Revealing spell and almost immediately came to a conclusion about the obvious poison in the mead.

"Professor! It's Arsenician Seizing Poison, it smells too garlicky!" He shouted. There was no time to make an antidote to such a fast acting poison. Harry ran over to the ingredient shelf they'd just stood in front of and cast his eyes over the shelves. Bezoars…bezoars…there they were, near the top. He grabbed one from the box and went back over to Ron, whose eyes had turned red and bloodshot as his body convulsed spasmodically. Harry pried open his friend's mouth as Slughorn looked on in horror, and shoved the bezoar down his throat. After just a few moments, the bezoar took effect and the convulsions subsided, leaving Ron unconscious. Slughorn still looked on, his eyes drifting to his mug every few seconds.

"Professor? Why don't you put the poisoned mead down and go fetch Madam Pomfrey?" Harry said in a growl of exasperation. Slughorn nodded, his great walrus jowls flapping wildly, and hurriedly shuffled out of the room.

Harry looked down at the unconscious Ron and muttered, "Guess Hermione won't be getting that snog just yet…" before levitating him and waiting for Madam Pomfrey. Frowning, his own eyes flicked to the mead as he recalled a bit of a conversation just before a Death Eater attack.

"_Ah yes, Tom, some of your special mead for me, if you will!"_ Slughorn had called out with a wink to Tom the Bartender at the Leaky Cauldron. _"My favorite, you know, as well as Professor Dumbledore's…"_

It seemed Professor Dumbledore's would-be assassin struck again.

"Harry?" Bill Weasley said uncertainly, seeing Harry with his eyes closed sitting on the floor outside the Hospital Wing.

"Bill?" Harry asked quickly, jerking awake. He'd been in the Hospital Wing all night, but Madam Pomfrey had tossed him out once the Weasley family arrived. He'd told Hermione, who had also been there the whole time, that he would stay and let her know when Ron woke up so that she could go back to her dormitory for some sleep. His neck, battling the crink, was less than pleased at his gallant offer.

"Ron's going to be fine, you know." Bill started.

"Oh, I know. I just told Hermione that I'd be here and let her know when Ron woke up. This interrupted a snog of theirs, I think." Bill grinned widely.

"Well, you know us Weasleys! Thanks for saving him, Harry." Bill said, his tone quickly changing.

"Ah, it was nothing. Just a little bezoar at the right time, is all." Harry said, waving it off as he yawned tiredly.

"That's not quite the story that Slughorn's telling, Harry, but I guess that's to be expected, from the tales mum tells of him. Anyway, I know mum's busy in there with Ron and she would love to be here to thank you herself, but thanks, Harry. Now," Bill cleared his throat and his voice rose, "Get yourself up to your dormitory, Harry dear, before you catch the death of yourself!" Bill's impression of his mum was spot-on, but Harry was too tired to do anything besides shake his head and smile a bit.

He couldn't remember the trip back to his bed, but he knew that once he hit the welcoming four-poster, he was asleep again.

"Harry!" A rather annoying voice called insistently, dragging him reluctantly from his blissful sleep.

"Go 'way." He muttered under his breath. To an angry witch, this was not a good thing to say. He yelped as Hermione's first hex hit his backside, before his covers were ripped off and he was Banished onto the floor. Perhaps Mad-Eye had always warded his bed so thoroughly to avoid angry witches, but Harry had had a term and a half to get out of the summer habit, so Hermione met no resistance as she did so.

"Harry Potter! Get out of bed and get a robe on now! I can't believe you just left him down there in the Hospital Wing! Didn't even think to come wake me up, did you?" She finally stopped her tirade as Harry vaguely realized she was looking for an answer. With only three hours' sleep, which he was unused to, to say the least, he wasn't quite sure of the question.

"Up! Get your robe on!" She barked again. Simple instructions he could slowly follow, and did, so the pair made their way down to the Hospital Wing. When they arrived, Hermione ran in while Harry just waited outside once more – it wasn't like she actually wanted him there anyway – for a few minutes.

When he finally did come in, he found Hermione leaning over the bed as Ron attempted to convince her that all thoughts of Romilda Vane were gone from his head. Harry cleared his throat softly and the two jumped apart, Hermione reddening slightly while Ron was just grinning.

"Glad to see you conscious again, mate." Harry said as he clamped a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"All thanks to you, mate! Honestly, first a love potion and then poison…now I know what your weekdays are like, huh?" Ron said, still grinning. At this point Hermione seemed to remember something and jumped up, embracing Harry in a hug.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry, I was horrible to you this morning and –" Harry shushed her as he returned the hug and they sat and talked to Ron a bit longer. He was anxious to get out, of course, though Mrs. Weasley was sure, and insistent, much to Madam Pomfrey's annoyance, that he needed another few days of rest to be sure he was fully recovered.

When Harry and Hermione left Madam Pomfrey's ward later that afternoon, just after lunch, it seemed that Filch was in a particularly foul mood.

"What are you two doing here?" He demanded after finding them walking near the entrance hall.

"Er…walking? Back to our dorms?" Harry said coolly to the frustrated squib.

"Don't you sass me, boy! I'll string you up by your ears, you no-good troublemaker!"

"Problem 'ere, Filch?" A booming voice said, not at all pleased. Harry and Hermione were quite glad to see the familiar face of Hagrid, who winked at them pleasantly.

"No problem, Hagrid. Just about to give these two detentions for back-talking me." Hermione's eyes widened at this. Only a few things, such as suspension, expulsion, and death, were worse than detention in her mind. Torture ranked closely behind it.

"'At's not much fair, Filch. 'Ese two were visitin' Ron in the 'Ospital, 'Ey didn' trash th' Seventh Floor." Harry ears perked up at this statement of Hagrid's, which caused Filch's eyes to narrow dangerously before he spun and slunk away.

"'E gets righ' upset when them floors get trashed, 'e does. Oh well. 'Arry! I was jus' abou' to go see Grawpy! 'E loves yer Christmas present, 'e does. Righ' nice of ye to think abou' 'im like 'at. Yer two wan' ter come wit' me?" Hagrid asked, excited. Hermione had quirked a suspicious eyebrow – that was two unknown Christmas presents Harry had delivered without anyone, as far as she knew, knowing about it. Harry smiled, ignoring his friend's silent inquiry.

"Of course, we'd love to come and visit Grawp a bit, wouldn't we, Hermione?" Hermione, remembering several near disastrous encounters with the amorous giant last year, stared at Harry like he was crazy. He grabbed her hand, ignoring that look, and accompanied Hagrid's long strides out to the grounds and through the dark forest, where Hermione made sure to keep close to Harry; had he not known of her feelings towards Ron, he might have thought her behavior less-than-platonic.

Grawp was no longer chained up like he had been the previous year when Harry and Hermione visited. In fact, he now looked quite respectable in Giant-sized trousers and a shirt. In one hand he gripped a massive white club with spikes on the business end of it; though he dragged it through the dirt, it remained gleaming clean. The small giant, however, had bruises on his face, more missing teeth than the teens remembered, and bruises all along his legs and arms. He looked as though he'd been a muggle suffering from a gang-beating.

"Har-ry! Herm-mie-nee!" Grawp exclaimed with a smile as he saw them. Though his pronunciation wasn't quite right, his accent was only as butchered as Viktor Krum's had been.

"Grawp, what happened? Did you get into a fight?" Hermione said, seeing his black eye and bruised face. Grawp kept smiling.

"Ah…big trolls live in mountains. Grawp a small giant, so four trolls fight me. I win with new club from Har-ry, though! Thank you, Har-ry!" The last expression had obviously been well-practiced, because Grawp made a face showing his concentration as he said it. Hagrid stood back and took in the scene, beaming like a proud parent.

"But Grawp, that's horrible!" Hermione exclaimed, "Hagrid, how could you let that happen?"

"Eh, not much I could do, 'Ermione. 'Em Trolls 're a good twelve feet tall, and strong 'ittle buggers, too." Hagrid said, spreading his arms in a shrug.

"Grawp bigger, but not big like big Giants. Trolls not fight big giants!" Grawp said while playing with his club, swinging it at a stray tree to knock in over violently.

"Grawpy's on'y sixteen feet tall or 'ereabouts. 'At club o' yours mus' be nice, 'Arry, to 'elp 'im figh' off four o' the big trolls!" Hagrid said, admiring the obvious craftsmanship on the Giant weapon.

"Yes…what is it, anyway, Harry? Some kind of wood? Where did you get it? And are those runes carved into it?" Hermione said, attempting to study it as Grawp swung it around happily.

"Er, bone, actually. Had it shipped in from Romania. Yes, there are runes carved in it." Harry said evasively. Hermione recognized this and her eyes narrowed.

"But whatever has bones big enough for…oh…Romania? Dragon preserve, then?" She concluded, raising an eyebrow. Harry neither confirmed nor denied, so she continued, "But how on earth did you manage to carve those runes like that? I mean, I know you learned a bit over the summer, but that's really advanced –"

"Not really, Hermione. After all, enchanting weapons used to be one of the most common things wizards did, hundreds of years ago. Even muggles always talk about magic swords and whatnot. The library here at Hogwarts has old books about it, since it used to be so common." In fact, Tom Riddle had eagerly devoured those books in his own fourth year, happily crafting deadly daggers for sharpness in his common room.

"Hmm, I suppose I'll have to check them out myself, then…" Hermione said, looking doubtful.

"They're good ones. Thanks for taking us to visit Grawp, Hagrid. I might have a few ideas about those troll problems he had, so I'll let you know if I make progress on them." They all said their farewells to Grawp, who parted with, "It was so good to see you again. Do come back and visit," in another obviously rehearsed way that made them laugh.

"You've done a marvelous job teaching him, Hagrid," Hermione said as they walked back through the forest.

"Oh, thanks! It was 'ard, o' course. But I 'aven't got N.E.W.T. students this year, so I 'ad a bit o' time off ter spend with 'im. It was fun, it was." Hagrid said. Harry and Hermione both felt slightly sad at the fact that no one continued in Hagrid's class, but supposedly there were a few O.W.L. students, particularly Luna Lovegood and Colin Creevey, who were quite interested in the subject and would be taking it at the N.E.W.T. level in upcoming years. Hagrid's discussion of his petitions to get dragons to study for them – he'd already filed six with the Ministry and been turned down five times – took them all the way to the castle, where Harry and Hermione took their leave of the half-Giant friend.

"Well, it might be dangerous, but I do think that Hagrid could teach a lot to the students about dragons, Harry." Hermione said as they made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower.

"I'm sure he could, but the Practical N.E.W.T. Creatures exam doesn't have anything on dragons. Though it's usually covered on the theory portion." Harry explained, making her wonder slightly just how he knew that.

"So you two've been together all day, then?" A fairly angry voice called out as they entered the common room. Harry immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Katie Bell. Things had been somewhat stagnant with her lately, as Harry was keeping ever more busy with lessons from Flitwick and his own training, along with Quidditch, and Katie likewise busy preparing for the N.E.W.T. exams. Perhaps their relationship had become a bit neglected, but that was bound to happen, right?

'_I can't answer that one for you, Harry. I know well enough how to seduce women, and could give your inexperienced mind anything it needs to know about pleasuring a woman, but keeping a steady girlfriend was never a goal of mine._' Tom thought to Harry as he sought advice.

"Er…'lo Katie." Harry began weakly, "Yeah, we visited Ron in the hospital wing and then went to see Hagrid. Did you want to go to the room to work on –"

"No, I didn't want to go to the room! Did you at all think that maybe I wanted to see my boyfriend after he was very nearly tricked into a love potion by some fourth year harpy? It's been weeks since we've had any private time, Harry, not even on Valentine's Day!" All commotion in the common room had stopped at Katie's slightly raised voice, as everyone tried to look like they weren't eavesdropping on this gossip topic.

"Why don't you calm down a bit and we can go someplace private and talk –"

"I don't really feel like talking to you, Harry. I'm going up to my dorm. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow." She said, turning on her heel and walking away up the stairs. Harry cleared away the frustration with a deep breath and some Occlumency, his tightened jaw the only indication that he was upset.

"Maybe I should –" Hermione began.

"Sure." Harry interrupted coldly. Hermione turned around and followed the older girl up to the girl's dormitory as Harry attempted to ignore the stares of everyone in the common room and calmly ascend to his own dorm. Once there, alone, he let some of the anger out as he called Kreacher.

"Kreacher!" He bellowed, abusing the silencing charm he'd hastily shot at the door, "Bring me everything in the Black library about Giants and growth potions. And strengthening potions, too! I want to know how the Giant blood might affect them!" Kreacher, having never seen his new Dark Master so visibly upset, hurriedly disappeared to retrieve the books. Perhaps if he performed well, Kreacher would get punishments to abate his Master's mood.

Unbeknownst to the house elf, Harry was almost frustrated enough to comply with his desires. Witches tend to bring out the best and worst, after all.


	15. Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

**_Harry Potter and the Unlocked Knowledge_**

Chapter 15: Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

The cacophony of a full marching band drumline cadence, together with a spectacular light show, three brown golems serving as targets, and a half-goblin who leaped from the head of one golem to another as he released light blue spells from his wand at a dark haired wizard made for quite a scene in Harry's training room.

The only person present to see it was Hermione, who'd been half-watching Harry all day as she completed an Arithmancy assignment.

Harry handily sidestepped to the left and did a half-turn in time with the steady beat of the snare drums; his arm circled above his head, he silently thought, "_Stupefy!_" and a crimson bolt shot at his attacker as a pair of cymbals crashed together. Dodging another light blue Stinging Hex, he turned again so that his side was facing his attacker and let loose another bright jet of magic. Harry did a twirling hop over the next spell shot at him and a moment after he landed let loose a third spell, all in time with the drumline's cadence.

Batting the next of Professor Flitwick's spells to the side contemptuously, Harry dodged the second – the Professor's quick wand had released two almost simultaneously – with a spin and fired his own Stunning Spell at the golem the diminutive professor occupied as he finished it.

They continued their game for another few minutes, before Harry's sidestep grew too slow, and Professor Flitwick's Stinging Hex made Harry yelp slightly as it hit his trailing arm.

The drum line abruptly stopped mid-beat, and the drums, cymbols, and sticks dropped to the ground with a great clash. Hermione jumped up at the unexpected noise, then shook her head and resumed her essay.

"Very good Harry!" Professor Flitwick said in an excited squeak. "I think the drum cadence has really helped your timing! Did you notice that you're releasing spells immediately after the dodge now? There's no time to get situated in a real duel, obviously, so you have to get used to aiming as you turn."

Hopping down from his perch on the left golem, Professor Flitwick sheathed his wand into his belt holster after Vanishing the drums and cymbals he'd conjured.

"Thank you, Professor. I'd never considered using music as a timing cue to increase my casting speed and timing with those dodges." Harry said as he thoughtlessly conjured a towel and wiped his forehead of sweat and Vanished it.

"Ah yes, Harry – you'll find music to be remarkably magical in many ways! I got my own start with a _bladvak-torek_ when I was just a child. That's a goblin instrument, of course – sort of like a flute attached to an axe-head. If you paid attention in History of Magic class, I'm sure you've heard of the Goblin Uprising of 1457. The uprising was actually conducted entirely with musical instruments – since then, goblins have made it a point to combine instruments with weaponry, just in case an orchestra takes it upon itself to rebel again, so that they'll be better prepared. Quite a lovely instrument, actually, and the axe heads can double as a chime if struck with a nail." Flitwick finished with a smile, indicating his own claw-like nails. Harry smiled nervously as he agreed with the small professor, mentally reminding himself not to underestimate him.

"Well Harry, as much fun as this has been, I really must grade my seventh years' essays – they get so prickly in their N.E.W.T. year if I don't return them within a few days! It must be the stress from the upcoming exams. I've been considering secretly bludgeoning them all with Cheering Charms for years! Have a good rest of the night." Professor Flitwick said with a smile before leaving Harry and Hermione alone in the room.

"How's the Arithmancy, Hermione?" Harry asked his quiet friend amicably.

"Oh, it's going well enough, I suppose. I've finished the calculations now, I just need to incorporate them into the essay explanation of the assignment. Rather cut and dry, you know." Harry nodded.

"Those were impressive conjurations and charms, to get those drums to play like that, weren't they Harry? I was ever so thrilled to try to charm an instrument, but…well I'm afraid the clarinet did _not_ play nearly as well as Professor Flitwick's drums." She said, hardly looking up from her essay.

"Yeah, even the conjurations are quite tricky. The drumheads have to be exactly right or they sound weird. And charming them to play on the same beat, much less a uniformed cadence…well, it's beyond me. Flitwick's been conducting the Hogwarts' choir for years though, so I guess he's had lots of experience with music. That might help; I never played before Hogwarts, and aside from the occasional tune on that flute Hagrid carved for me in first year, haven't played anything since." Harry admitted.

Harry hadn't practiced the charms much yet, since he had busied himself with other sorts of drills to better his wand skills, but had been quite impressed with how effective the metronomic cadence had been at adjusting his spellwork timing and speed – he would have to work a bit harder on the enchantments.

"You've been spending more time here since the last Quidditch game." Harry commented. Hermione finally looked up, an annoyed look on her face.

"McLaggen." She said simply, as if it explained everything. With Ron in the hospital, Harry had been forced to put in the seventh year as Keeper. After a time-out in which Harry berated him for attempting to play captain and screamed at him to mind his own bloody position, things had taken a turn for the better. Unfortunately, playing well as he had, McLaggen had attracted the attention of another Quidditch talent scout that was in the audience, and would now be attending theQuidditch Junior Leagues. Of course, he thought this made him the most eligible bachelor in all of Gryffindor, as well as Reserve Keeper and Assistant Captain of Gryffindor's Quidditch team, and Ron and Harry's new best friend.

"I swear, he's now _obsessed_ with me! And I can't figure out why - I'm the only girl in Gryffindor who isn't _throwing_ herself at him. I know for a fact Lavender didn't come to bed last Saturday night, and sure enough the two of them were cosy that night and the next morning. Honestly, it's horrible, the way he leers." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"And he's even taken to following me to the library now!" She continued ranting. "'How's the studying, Hermione?' 'Maybe you can show me some of your Charms.' 'My broom could use a bit of polishing, Hermione - you fancy helping me out or you just want to watch?' What kind of bloody awful pickup line is _that_ anyway?" Harry laughed aloud at that as he took out his own Transfiguration essay to polish off.

"Come on, Hermione, you've heard worse - that last one wasn't even so bad. When you tack on the bit about watching at the end, he sort of leaves you with a choice between two really awful options." She scowled at him, but Harry kept laughing.

"Well, I notice you're spending an awful lot of time here as well. And that Katie isn't spending much time here at all." She said, eyeing Harry closely as he finally stopped smirking.

He still hadn't patched things over with Katie, and was worried that any move might be too overt; the truth was that he missed her something terribly. "She hasn't spoken much to me. I think she may have said 'Hi' once, when I called out to her in the hall. Not even during the Quidditch game or practice, or after the game at the party. She came up to Ron and said hello and hoped he was feeling better - I was standing right there and she wouldn't acknowledge me!" Harry said angrily. "I guess she isn't who I thought she was, if she's behaving so childishly."

"Well, you really can't blame her entirely, Harry." Hermione said, finally giving the conversation her whole attention as she put away her essay. "After all, you _did_ sort of ignore her for awhile there. And maybe she isn't talking to you because she'll just get upset if she does? It's easier not to talk to a person you care so much about, if you think they don't return the feelings." Harry knew she was speaking from experience on that.

"First, Ron does return your feelings toward him; you two just need to sit down and actually formalize the fact that you're a couple. Second of all, of course I care about her - we've been dating more or less for almost six months! Just because I'm too busy training to fight the most powerful dark wizard in history and don't always have the time I'd like to spend with her, doesn't mean I don't bloody care about her!" Harry exclaimed vehemently. Hermione raised her eyebrows as he raised his voice.

"Sounds like you should be telling _her_ that, Harry." She finally recommended with a smile. Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in a defeated sigh and sort of deflated.

"You're probably right. Thanks, Hermione." She smiled back, and nodded his thanks off.

"So, can you tell me your secret yet, Harry?"

"_Legilimens_." He said dully, immediately assaulting her mind. He dove haphazardly through her thoughts and memories - though they were definitely slipperier, harder to grasp and hold onto than before. Finally settling on her memory of their first becoming friends by fighting the troll together, he got up to the point where his eleven year old self jumped on the back of a mountain troll before she pushed him out of her mind.

"Not bad progress." He said, ignoring the slight pulsing headache the legilimency attack caused. "But no, not yet."

She nodded, accepting his decision as he packed his things. "Good luck on your Apparition test tomorrow, Hermione."

"Harry!" A deep voice, deeper than most of his friends possessed, called out as soon as he stepped out of the room. His wand was up in an instant, but he lowered it almost immediately.

"Hey Harry!" Cormac McLaggen said boisterously as he swaggered down the hall and slapped Harry on the back in greeting. Inside his head, Harry was seething - how had _McLaggen_, of all people, managed to find the room he'd cast nearly every reasonable protective and avoidance ward on?

"Cormac, how did you find me here?" He finally asked wearily.

"Just followed my nose, man - you stink! You been hitting the weights for Quidditch? Not a bad idea, I reckon - should probably do some of that myself! Still, you don't have to throw a Quaffle or anything...you just doing cardio to stay in shape, give you some staying power on the pitch? And off the pitch, of course!" Cormac said, winking slyly and nudging Harry with his elbow. Harry knew what the older boy meant, but tried not to think much on it, for fear of projectile vomiting. Tom had no such compunctions, however, and was counting the number of witches possibly willing to sleep with Cormac - and how many of those had made eyes at Harry, as well. Twelve was the number he came up with.

"Follow his nose, is he an effing bloodhound?" Harry muttered grumpily under his breath. "No, Cormac, just practicing a few spells. You know, classwork and all that." Cormac looked turned off by this.

"Classwork? Harry, I know you're only a sixth year, so you might not have done research about careers and whatnot." Cormac said, wrapping a large arm around Harry as though he were a mentor imparting sage advice. "But Quidditch players don't _need_ N.E.W.T.s - not even one. So if I were you, I'd get my priorities straight and concentrate on the pitch. After all, we could be teammates together in the pros! I mean, that'd be great right? Playing for the Falcons, maybe - they're the ones who're sponsoring me in the Juniors, you know." Harry did know. All Cormac wore these days were Falcons jerseys. Apparently his father bought something like twenty for him, when he got the sponsorship; it was Quality Quidditch's entire stock.

Harry allowed Cormac to steer him towards the Common Room as he mindlessly discussed Quidditch with McLaggen. No, there didn't appear to be any adverse effects from the poison on Ron. Yes, Harry was _quite_ sure Ron would be able to play in the last game of the year. No, Harry didn't foresee any team injuries despite the amateur Beaters on the team. No, Harry hadn't known that Cormac also played Beater quite well, but yes, he was quite satisfied with the existing Beaters, but would keep Cormac in mind if they were injured.

"Awesome, Harry." Cormac said as they got to the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Alright, I'm gonna hit the kitchens - trying to bulk up for summer, you understand - I'll talk to you later, man!"

His headache in full force and his eye twitching slightly as he rubbed his temple, he didn't even look as he plunged through the portrait hole.

And ran right into Katie Bell.

"Er, sorry about that, Katie." He said, backing through the hole allowing her to leave. Their eyes met for a moment, but Harry looked away before his passive legilimency read her thoughts. A part of him wanted desperately to read the girl's thoughts, but Harry liked to think that was mostly Tom - _I resent that, Harry...it is at most _partially_ my fault_ - and ignored the urge.

"How've you been? I...haven't seen you in about forever." He said lamely.

"Yeah." She agreed softly.

"Look," he began as she moved to turn away. "I know things were...well, it was my fault, I admit that. But I'd like to talk to you some time - are you free now?"

"I'm really busy today, Harry, I have an essay in -"

"Okay, sure. Look, I know you're busy and N.E.W.T. year is crazy and everything - but how about tomorrow, right after classes? Just a few minutes to talk, Katie, that's all I'm asking for." Katie seemed to stare at him a moment, weighing the decision.

"Fine, Harry. My last class ends around three o'clock, tomorrow." Harry grinned at her, despite her obvious reticence. She gave him a slight smile before turning to continue on her way.

_You really do know how to tear a girl's heart apart, Harry. It's almost a skill. You know, Dumbledore's idea that love is the power Voldemort knows not may have some merit - get him to fall for you and then drive him away through neglect and he may just off himself._ Tom said jovially. Harry mentally scowled but attempted to keep it from showing on his face as he entered the Common Room.

The following day was going well for Harry - he was looking forward to attempting to patch things up with Katie, and was enjoying Potions class with Professor Slughorn.

With most of his year taking their Apparition test, only Harry, Malfoy, and Ernie Macmillan were left in the class. Slughorn told them to 'do something fun!' since there were so few of them. Harry, however, thought that he could simply finish his Skele-grow potion.

The class was in the midst of doing individual projects now, picked from a lengthy list, and Harry had decided upon Skele-grow; the useful potion would be a good addition to Madam Pomfrey's stores. Particularly since he himself had used some of it before; it would also be useful to know how to brew, should he ever break a bone so much that a simple _Episkey_ didn't work to fix it.

"Harry my boy, how's it coming? Tricky potion, that Skele-grow! Invented by a former student, of course - actually derived from Blood Replenishing Potions, which he studied in his N.E.W.T. year with me. Apparently blood is stored or created inside of bones, and so growing blood and growing bones is related! I didn't really read the fine print, but it was fine potions work, I'll tell you that much!" Professor Slughorn said amiably.

"Of course, sir. Skele-grow is complex, but I believe ten of the ingredients are also in the Blood Replenishing Potion. And of course, Skele-grow is quite a bit more potent. I wonder if your student was attempting to make some sort of emergency, fast-acting Blood Replenisher when he noted the previously undocumented effect on bone growth?" Harry said as he carefully added a few ground up leaves to the potion at the proper time.

Slughorn gave a cursory examination of his cauldron and the manner in which he was preparing ingredients, nodding a few times.

"Quite possibly, Harry, quite possibly. Good mind for experimentation you've got! I daresay you might make the next great innovation in Potions - if you do, I know a chap at _The Practical Potioneer_, I'm sure you'll get a good spot in the journal. Best professional potions journal out there, you know!" Slughorn said jovially before moving on to look unimpressed with Draco's attempt at a Hiccoughing Solution.

When Harry finished his potion and turned in the cauldron of it for the Professor to pass on to Madam Pomfrey, he hadn't even left the room when a winded third year Gryffindor girl whose name Harry didn't know handed him a note of parchment.

"Harry Potter? From Hagrid." She said simply before turning around and leaving.

A glimpse over the tear-sodded note - as tear-sodded as the note Hagrid had once written concerning the fate of Buckbeak - and Harry sighed audibly.

"I _hate_ Acromantulas - why should I care if he's dead, Hagrid?" Harry said to no one in particular as he grabbed his things and made to leave the Potions classroom.

"Acromantulas, did you say, Harry? Fine creatures, fine - their venom is an incredibly valuable potion ingredient, you know. Terribly difficult to harvest, as well - well-harvested venom fetches a price of hundreds of galleons for just a small vial!" Professor Slughorn interjected.

"Yes, I'd heard the venom was valuable, Professor. Too bad this one's dead, because Aragog was enormous." Harry said nonchalantly.

"Dead, you say? The venom is always harvested from recently deceased specimens, Harry. That's why the beasts are so rare in certain areas these days - hunted down for their venom. Mostly used on goblin-wrought swords to make them poisonous during their rebellions; the goblins were notorious for it up until about three hundred years ago when they finally hunted the last major colony in Germany's Black Forest to extinction." Professor Slughorn lectured excitedly. He was also eyeing the note in Harry's hand.

"Professor," Harry began, seeing Slughorn's eye. "You know, I'm sure Hagrid would welcome anyone who wanted to come to Aragog's funeral tonight. We're to meet at his hut around six o'clock tonight, and hike up to his brother Grawp's cave, where he brought Aragog's corpse. I'm sure such a...distinguished guest would lend quite a bit to the funeral - Hagrid would love it. And after all, Aragog wouldn't be using his venom any more, so I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you harvested it."

"Yes...yes, of course, Harry. Proper thing to do, attend the funeral - Hagrid's a good friend, obviously. And this...Aragog...he was a sizable beast, you say?" Slughorn said, surreptitiously taking out his pocket watch to check the time.

"Biggest one I've ever heard of, Professor. You know it's rare for Acromantulas to die of old age." Harry said coyly.

"Old age...good heavens!" Slughorn said excitedly before starting to mutter to himself. "Yes, yes...I'll need a standard collection kit - large needles, no telling how deep the sacs are. And syringes - the biggest I've got, I'd wager..." He seemed to remember Harry's presence, then.

"Ah, Harry, best head off now. And since you can't be going on the grounds without an escort after dark," he said with a wink and a smirk at Harry. "I'll obviously be escorting you to Hagrid's tonight. For your own safety, you know."

"Of course, Professor, thank you for your time. I do appreciate you letting me help out a friend like that." Harry said, grinning back at Professor Slughorn, who smiled jovially.

He didn't notice Draco Malfoy, who had also stayed in the room after class ended and overheard their entire conversation, narrow his eyes and give Harry a dark look before hurrying off behind him.

Harry was back in the Common Room when he ran into an excited gaggle of sixth year Gryffindors.

"Harry! Bloody great advice, mate - saved my arse on that Apparition test! Next Hogsmeade visit, I owe you a butterbeer, yeah?" Seamus said with a slap on Harry's back.

"Yeah, good on you, Harry. With that 'Three D' nonsense I'd never have made it!" Dean agreed jovially.

Accepting their thanks with only mild confusion, Harry sought out Ron and Hermione.

"What exactly is all this about?" He said, motioning towards the celebratory sixth years.

"Heh - every single Gryffindor passed their Apparition test on the first go, Harry. And most of them say that advice you gave a while back about focusing on where you want to go and kind of forcing yourself there? Everyone agrees it's loads better than the Ministry nonsense. I know it all made a lot more sense to me!" Ron said happily as he pulled out the framed piece of paper declaring him legally able to Apparate.

"As I told you, Ron, Harry just rephrased what Mr. Twycross was telling us. I'm not saying he didn't do it very well." She amended. "But really, he said the same thing!"

"Well of course _you_ did it perfectly the first time, Hermione. And the Ministry method might make sense if you're some kind of genius. But for everyone else, what Harry said makes more sense. And I didn't splinch my ear off, so you'll excuse me if I prefer Harry's way of doing it." Ron said with a wink at Harry. Hermione merely rolled her eyes in mock exasperation.

"Oh, I wanted to talk to the two of you. Take a look at this." He said, handing over the message from Hagrid.

"Blimey, Aragog's dead? Good riddance, I guess." Ron said flippantly. Harry expected Hermione to object, but to his surprise she merely nodded in agreement.

"I must say I agree, Harry. Aragog sounded like he was a monster, from what little you and Ron have mentioned. And you can't be thinking of going." She said skeptically.

"Well yeah, of course I was thinking of going. I certainly didn't like Aragog, but Hagrid did. He was Hagrid's first friend, just like Hagrid was mine; so yeah, I'm going tonight." Harry said in a tone that brokered no argument. Hermione heard the finality in his voice, and tried a new objection.

"Hagrid wants to meet at dusk, Harry. And take you off school grounds. To some place in the mountains where he's hiding Grawp? And if I remember correctly, Grawp was recently attacked by wild mountain trolls at his cave!" Hermione exclaimed, remembering their visit while Ron was in the Hospital Wing from his poisoning.

"Well first of all Professor Slughorn has agreed to escort me. And second of all, I'm sure Grawp will be perfectly capable of handling a few trolls - again - if they decide to interrupt the ceremony. Besides, I have been known to be somewhat capable with a wand, from time to time." Harry finished dryly. Ron snorted, while Hermione looked mildly appeased.

_Besides, tonight will be the perfect night to give Grawp the potions you've specially dosed to account for Giant blood. A powerful Strengthening Solution should be an incredible asset to a Giant._ Tom reminded Harry of the potions he'd altered and brewed over the past few months. He was fairly confident that the recipes were correct, now. At least they hadn't killed the test subjects this time.

"Well, whatever you'd like to do, Harry. But I certainly won't be going to a funeral for a giant spider." She said with a shudder. "Besides, Ron was going to show me a few of the Animagus meditations tonight in the practice room." Hermione said, her slightly blushing face belying what she really hoped would happen.

"All right," Harry accepted. "I can go by myself, that's fine. Oh bugger, I'm supposed to meet Katie after class..."

"Well you're lucky I was coming to the Common Room anyway, Harry." Katie said as she sidled up to the group.

She looked pretty today - exceptionally pretty, if Harry had to say, as though she'd spent perhaps a bit more time than usual on her appearance that morning. Her dirty blonde hair was worn down, and had a sheen as though she'd brushed it a few hundred times - a charm that Harry knew of because of Parvati and Lavender talking about it in the D.A. the previous year.

_Apparently you aren't the only one willing to give your relationship another chance_. Tom said smugly.

"Hi Katie. You look great today." Harry greeted honestly. She smiled slightly as Ron and Hermione found more interesting places to be and left the two of them alone.

"So..." He began awkwardly. "Do you mind finding somewhere to talk other than the Common Room? Frankly having everyone overhear anything we might say doesn't really appeal to me."

"Yeah, of course, Harry." Katie agreed, and followed him out the portrait hole. "And...I'm sorry I made a scene in the Common Room when...you know. I could have found a more private place to have that discussion with you. Or yell at you," She amended. "Because I guess there wasn't much of a discussion."

Harry met her embarrassed self-deprecating remark with a short chuckle of agreement. The two walked together until they found a quiet spot in a hallway overlooking one of the larger courtyards.

"So...um, what's that?" Katie began, gesturing to the slip of parchment from Hagrid that Harry had shoved in his pocket.

"Ah, my plans for the night." Harry replied. "Hagrid's pet Acromantula died - he's had it since he was a first year here, it was really special to him. So he's throwing it a funeral, and wanted me to go. I knew Aragog. Well, sort of - actually he attacked me and Ron back in second year, when we were trying to figure out what was petrifying students. But I guess that's mostly as close as Acromantulas get to humans, so I was pretty close to him." Harry recounted with a smile. Katie laughed at his comment.

"That's really sweet, Harry. Was that what you were talking about with Ron and Hermione?" She asked. Though the last month or so she'd been gone, Harry couldn't help but reflect on how much Katie had really become a part of their group this past year - she was rarely with anyone else.

"Yeah, I figure Hagrid would have wanted as many people as possible to come. Even Professor Slughorn wanted to show up, though that was mostly so that he could get fresh Acromantula venom, I think. Neither Ron nor Hermione wanted to come, though. Ron's still upset that it tried to kill him - though, that was years ago, and with me having so many people trying to kill me I guess it doesn't bother me as much." Harry interjected, making Katie laugh - he'd forgotten how pretty her laugh was. "And Hermione doesn't like spiders, apparently. Though that's a new fear, as far as I know. And her and Ron were 'practicing Animagus meditations' tonight, though I'd bet she's finally going to make a move and snog the poor boy."

"Well, it's about time, I suppose." Katie agreed. "Can I come?"

Harry was surprised for a moment. "To a spider's funeral?"

Katie looked sheepish only for a moment before nodding. "Sure. You invited your other friends. I'm not doing anything tonight, so...I'd like to go." Harry graciously didn't point out that just yesterday Katie had told him that she was too busy to talk with him; he also was more than a bit put out at how she just counted herself as a 'friend'. Harry only hoped he'd be able to quickly turn that into something more.

"Sure, that'd be great, Katie. Hagrid wanted us there in a couple of hours, and I know I should change robes, so...want to head back to the Common Room?" Harry asked.

"Sure." With a quirk of her eyebrow, she asked, "Harry? What do you wear to a spider's funeral?"

"Well...I was thinking black..." He said with a shrug.

"Harry my boy! And the lovely Ms. Bell! I suppose I should have expected to see you two together again!" Horace Slughorn said with a wink. He was outfitted in resplendent dark emerald dress robes - not enchanted to sparkle like his more flashy dress robes, these were rather sedate and refined. His robes were well accented by silver trim, of course, and he had a matching pocket watch that completed the ensemble. He completed the look with a comb-over of his remaining grey hair covering his bald pate.

"Well, Harry's not the only one who likes Hagrid, Professor. I'm simply going to pay my respects to his pet." She clarified. _At least she didn't immediately object that you aren't together_, Tom reminded Harry lamely, trying to quell his growing frustration with no longer being in a relationship with Katie, yet trying to still be friends.

He understood a bit better now, why Ginny and Dean no longer talked - the transition from boyfriend to friend was grating on his nerves.

The three of them made their way outside the castle, with Professor Slughorn constantly asking about one thing or another - and both of them were planning on attending his upcoming dinner? Yes, the Quidditch camp _did_ sound lovely, he'd have to make sure to stop in to see some of his favorite students - which was perfectly fine with Harry and Katie, who each caught the other casting furtive glances all along the walk.

Hagrid met them outside his hut. He had chosen to wear the hideous brown suit that Harry vaguely remembered from the Yule Ball and his dance with Madame Maxime, and had even combed his wild mane of hair for the occasion.

"'Arry!" He said gratefully, wrapping the boy in a crushing hug that cracked his back. "Thanks fer comin'. Know it'd mean a lot ter Aragog, 'e talked about yeh a few times. Liked yeh, I think. An' Katie, good ter see yeh!"

"Oh yes, Hagrid." Professor Slughorn butted in, shaking Hagrid's hand with a pained expression on his face. "I came as soon as young Harry told me the news - terrible thing, just terrible. I knew you could use some support in such a trying time. I was only so happy to come, of course!"

Hagrid wrapped the portly professor in a hug then, as well, and delicately blew his nose in his robe as he bent to lay his head on Slughorn's shoulder. "Mighty kind o' yeh, Professor. Always knew yeh was a good man. Dumbledore'd be here, o' course, but 'e's a busy man. Sent his best to meh an' Grawp." Hagrid said, shaking his head. "Grawp's hiked Aragog up near his cave. It's a lovely spot, really, I know Aragog'd love it there. I wanted to bury him in the forest cave, but...his kids never got on well wit' me, funny enough. Threatened to eat their ol' dad if I buried him there, an' me with 'im! Imagine tha'!" Hagrid continued morosely, pulling out a hanky and blowing his nose like a foghorn once again.

"Ready ter head off, then?" Hagrid asked, glancing at Harry and then back to the castle. He was probably hoping for Ron and Hermione to appear.

"Absolutely, Hagrid, lead the way. I hear Grawp's doing quite well - still enjoying that club I gave him for Christmas?" Harry said, starting small talk with Hagrid after giving him a smile and a nod.

The "hike" up to Grawp's cave might have been a brisk hour walk for Hagrid as a half giant, but for the three wizards, even with Harry's clever use of a Featherweight charm to jump over the inconvenient boulders that Hagrid merely climbed over as a nuisance, it took over an hour and a half. Slughorn was red faced and huffing when they finally reached Grawp. Hagrid's brother had lit a fire, since night had fallen, and his cherublike rock of a face broke out into a smile when he saw the visitors.

"Hagrid! I pull spider to cave and light fire. Hi Har-Ree and...you not Herm-Min-Ninny!" To Katie's credit, she only paled slightly when she met Hagrid's brother for the first time.

"Hello." She greeted from a distance. "I'm Katie Bell. It's a pleasure to meet you...Grawp, was it?" Grawp's eyes lit up and he nodded his head vigorously.

"We should get on with the funeral for Aragog, Grawp. Time fer chattin' later." Hagrid said, interrupting. Grawp looked to his brother, and nodded solemnly. Or possibly the nod was confused - solemnity and confusion looked similar on a giant.

The five of them stood in a semicircle around the corpse of Aragog, perhaps ten feet away from Grawp's fire. Silence reigned, until Slughorn suggested he give a eulogy - fitting, since he and Katie were the ones who didn't know him at all. Great tears rolled down Hagrid's face, and Grawp patted his back forcefully in a crude imitation of human comfort.

Slughorn cleared his throat gently, "Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won't forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained."

The whole thing was awkward, in the eyes of Harry - a glance at Katie showed that she was oddly uncomfortable as well. Slughorn bent down after his eulogy and surreptitiously stuck a series of needles near Aragog's pincers, and filled the syringes with a yellowish orange liquid that looked to have the consistency of saliva. The Potions Master quickly emptied the syringes into a series of flasks that he subsequently charmed unbreakable, and with a smile headed over to Hagrid to offer a few words of comfort.

With a nod from Hagrid, Grawp lazily pushed the body of Aragog into the hole they'd dug, while Hagrid sniffled.

While the attention of almost everyone was elsewhere, Harry removed a corked cauldron from his cloak's interior pocket - removing the cork before expanding it to its full size of a small swimming pool - and levitated it closer to the entrance of Grawp's cave. It was clearly labelled "For Grawp from Harry". That was surely enough incentive to get him to drink it.

"Harry!" Hagrid called with a slap on his favorite student's back. Harry was nearly bowled over from it. "We're headin' down to me cabin to drink to Aragog's memory. I think it's only right, that. 'E would've wanted a cheerful sendoff, I think."

Harry grinned and returned the slap on the back, turning it into something of a manly hug before he and Katie joined their Professors for a round of drinking.

Professor Slughorn had brought bottles of wine - Hagrid's mug was so large that it wasn't even filled by an entire bottle, which he immediately began drinking greedily. Harry took the liberty of silently _Scourgify_ing three of Hagrid's best mugs before Professor Slughorn split another bottle of wine for the three of them.

An hour of many-times-over refilled wine bottles later had Katie's head on Harry's shoulder as she grinned pleasantly at nothing. Professor Slughorn and Hagrid had just finished their last song together before Hagrid passed out against the wall.

Sighing, Professor Slughorn looked at Harry. "I know why you're here, you know. Chatting me up and all that." He looked back down into his cup.

"Because of the memory Professor Dumbledore wants?" Harry asked, it having mostly slipped his mind - he and Tom had known what Slughorn had told Tom about horcruxes months ago.

Professor Slughorn looked up sharply at his suspicions being confirmed, while Harry just took another sip of wine casually, careful not to disturb Katie's head on his opposite shoulder. "That's why Professor Dumbledore brought you to Hogwarts, certainly. He's concerned that Voldemort -" Harry ignored the flinch from Slughorn and continued, "might have made more than one horcrux."

Slughorn, as the topic of horcruxes was brought up, got wide-eyed a bit, but didn't shy away. He'd gotten to know Harry well, as Harry had come to him asking for stories of his mother. He didn't quite have the relationship Tom Riddle had had, but being who he was, he didn't need it.

"Of course, I destroyed one when I was twelve and fought a basilisk - I'm sure you know basilisk venom is one of the few things that can, incidentally, destroy a horcrux. And Professor Dumbledore destroyed another earlier this summer. So we know for a fact that he made more than one - and with Voldemort being the student of Arithmancy that he is, he really only would have settled on a magically powerful number." Harry finished.

"Seven." Professor Slughorn whispered. "That was his question - if seven would be a more powerful protection from death than just having one horcrux. I told him it was a ghastly question, to murder seven innocents in cold blood. I tried to warn him off, truly I did! But I suppose even then...perhaps I guessed at what he was truly asking, what he was truly capable of. But Tom Riddle was pushing the boundaries of magic - of what we thought possible from a student - by the time he was a third year. Nonverbal casting, human transfiguration, complex animation. He could have taken his N.E.W.T.s the day he took his O.W.L.s and gotten O's across the board, I'd wager! And I was so damn _proud_ to have gotten my hooks into him before the rest of the staff." Slughorn admitted shamefully. "He was to be Minister for Magic within a few years - I'd have wagered he'd have Albus' role as Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, too, by now."

"I know, Professor. But thank you for telling me." Harry said with a nod of acceptance toward his Professor, knowing how hard admitting his shameful deed must have been. "It's true, you know, all the stories they tell about me. The Chosen One. It's funny, Voldemort spent the entire year last year trying to get the prophecy, and the _Daily Prophet_ guesses it in one go, the day after it's destroyed. And they never get anything right!" Harry grinned easily, and Slughorn chuckled appreciatively, accepting the change in topic.

"So, I guess it makes my job easier, being that I know I have to destroy the horcruxes first before Voldemort and I have our final fight. So thank you, Professor Slughorn." Harry said, helping to put Slughorn's mind at ease. Judging by the dampness around his eyes, he was succeeding admirably.

"And now, I think it's time we returned to the castle. If you wouldn't mind escorting Katie and me? I'd hate to get a detention for being out after curfew." Harry said with a grin. Slughorn agreed and Harry began mostly carrying Katie through the castle; she hadn't paced herself well with the wine.

They said their farewells at the Fat Lady's portrait and Harry and Katie went on to the Common Room when Harry said goodnight to her at the stairwell leading up to the girls' dormitory.

"I think this means we're alright again, Harry." Katie said, still wearing the smile she had all night. She rubbed her hand appreciatively up and down his chest in a way that certainly made him _want_ things to be alright between them. She blurted, "I don't even know why things ever weren't - it was stupid, getting upset at you for being busy."

"I shouldn't have ignored you the way I did either, Katie. I would very much like it if we were 'alright' again. And for us to be a couple again." Harry said, intentionally wording it in the least childish way he could think of. He somewhat hesitantly put his arm around her, running it up her back in a similarly sensual way as she was still doing to his chest.

She put her hands up to cup his chin and started kissing him - long, needy kisses that showed just how much they'd missed each other. He wrapped his arms behind her and pulled her tight, pressing every curve of her into him and then running his hand up her back into the base of her neck as they finished a long series of kisses.

The common room was mostly empty this late, of course, but the three students who were still lounging around this late were sure to spread rumors; they were all still staring at one of Gryffindor's most popular couples embrace, despite Harry's glance at them.

"I think we'd better say goodnight, Katie." Harry said, keeping his face close to hers as he stared into her eyes.

"I kinda want you to tuck me in." She said playfully. He kissed her again after shaking his head.

"With the charms on that staircase, I really don't think that's a great idea, unfortunately. Although I'm sure I'd love to find out what kind of 'tucking you in' we can do that would relate to making up..." He teased back.

"Ugh, damn charms. Foiled by Dumbledore I guess." She said with a final kiss. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Night." He said, before turning up to his own bed.

Morning seemed to come absurdly early the next day, and with it the telltale signs of a hangover.

"Wine hangovers are the worst." Harry said with a groan to no one in particular. Fumbling for his glasses, he found them at the same time that his fingers grabbed a note of parchment, written in Dumbledore's notable loopy handwriting.

_Harry, _

_Please join me in my office at your earliest convenience. The gargoyle knows to let you in._

_That is unusual, Harry_, Tom said warily. Harry agreed. _I know, Tom - he always gives me a password. Maybe he tried out some new enchantment on the gargoyle but...with magic escalating the curse as we suspect, I doubt that._

Harry dressed quickly; between his and Tom's suspicions, he ended up putting on the heavily enchanted robe he'd made early in the summer - the twin to Voldemort's during his early battles that kept him safe despite his foes' prowess. The cloak that had first given him the reputation of invulnerability, of being more than just a wizard.

In the stately blue-black robes, Harry quickly left for Dumbledore's office. He and Tom shot back and forth possibilities - the likeliest was that Dumbledore had found a horcrux, and was taking Harry with him to destroy it. Such news would perhaps explain the change in protocol for the gargoyle - Dumbledore might not want to be disturbed by anyone but Harry.

Finally, Harry came upon the winged gargoyle that guarded the staircase entrance to Dumbledore's office.

"Hello." He greeted the stone statue, which looked as inanimate as it always did. "It's Harry Potter, I was told you were supposed to let me in."

The rubies that were its eyes flashed so quickly that Harry almost thought he imagined it. Usually the stone guardian slowly rotated to reveal the staircase, but not this time. This time gryphon wings encircled a shocked Harry, who didn't even have his wand out.

At the same second he was being crushed against the stone gargoyle by its powerful wings, the claws were forcing his hands across his chest - for the briefest instant he had entertained a thought of trying a wandless summoning charm, but now the angle was entirely wrong and he couldn't move his wand at all from the firm grasp of the stone guardian. The wings finished wrapping around him, gripping him as tightly as any_ Incarcerous _Charm, and the gargoyle shot upwards like a rocket, forgoing the stairwell entirely.

The gargoyle shot sideways as Harry continued his rather fruitless struggle, and erupted through the doors of Professor Dumbledore's office with a _bang!_

The Professor was calmly eating kippers behind his desk when Harry burst in, falling over with the gargoyle on top of him, facing the Professor.

_Harry_, Tom said in a calm voice that belied the situation they found themselves in. _Not to alarm you, but Dumbledore seems to have you trapped._

_Oh, thank you for that insight, Tom._ Harry mentally replied, also attempting to remain calm despite his very thorough incarceration. _ I daresay he may be displeased with us for something._

_Mhmm, _Tom agreed. _Perhaps even so much as upset._ Harry fought back a grin that would have been entirely inappropriate.

"Ah, good morning." Professor Dumbledore said, dabbing at his mouth with a napkin.

"I've been expecting you, but I wasn't sure exactly when you might show up so I decided to have a spot of breakfast. I hope you don't mind." Dumbledore smiled wanly at Harry.

"I think," Harry said, carefully choosing his words. "That you eating breakfast is the part about this situation that I'm the most okay with, actually." Dumbledore smiled at the response.

"You know, I had an interesting chat with Horace last night. Which was, of course, related to _your_ interesting chat with him. I was able to convince him to part with his memory of the night's events, along with a few others, so that I was able to view them in my Pensieve. Do you know what conclusion I was finally able to draw?" Professor Dumbledore said conversationally. Harry had a good idea what conclusion he had drawn, but was not about to voice it. Dumbledore ignored his silence and continued.

"You see, you convinced Horace so easily to give up the information that it was quite astonishing. The manner in which you did it...well, it was so eerily familiar to me. And it explains so many other odd little quirks from this past year. Tom." His eyes flashed furiously as he said the last, damning word - more true than he knew - and he drew his wand like a whip, brandishing it at Harry.

Harry was pulled up, seemingly by a grip on his neck, and the heavy stone gargoyle attached to him was also set upright. Then Harry was turned around in its tightening clutches to face Dumbledore once more.

"Alright Professor," Harry said before gulping at the sheer power behind Dumbledore's eyes. "Let me explain before you make what must be either a prophetic guess or an _entirely _inaccurate but logically sound assumption. Which may lead to you thinking I have horcrux of Voldemort controlling me."

**A/N:** Hope you enjoyed my return to the world of writing - maybe it won't be five years before my next update. I appreciate your reviews :)


End file.
